Preview: Arminia Bielefeld vs. Schalke 04 - prediction, team news, lineups

With their top-flight status on the line, Schalke 04 travel to the Schuco-Arena on Tuesday for their clash with Arminia Bielefeld.

The hosts are just a point above the drop zone, and will be looking to pull away from danger as the season enters its final lap.

Match preview

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Schalke's relegation from the Bundesliga is one step closer after a 4-0 defeat to Freiburg at the Schwarzwald-Stadion on Saturday.

Lucas Holer and Roland Sallai put Dimitris Grammozis's men on course for their 20th league defeat of the season, and a second-half brace from Christian Gunter completed the rout.

Die Konigsblauen are now 14 points from safety and with only 15 points left to play for, failure to secure all three points on Tuesday would confirm their exit from the top tier of German football.

The visitors have endured a torrid campaign in which they have picked up the fewest number of points and conceded the most goals.

As a result, their 20-year stay in the Bundesliga is all but over, but they will not want to go down with a whimper.

Arminia Bielefeld moved out of the bottom three on Saturday following a goalless draw versus Augsburg at the WWK Arena.

Frank Kramer's men avoided defeat for the third away game running and leapfrogged Hertha Berlin into 15th place on the log, albeit having played an extra game.

Die Blauen are set to be involved in a relegation scrap in their first season back amongst the elite since the 2008/09 campaign.

They will be hoping for a repeat of December's reverse fixture between the sides, where they came out on top in a 1-0 triumph.

Team News

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Schalke are almost down to the bare bones going into the game with a number of first-team players unavailable for the trip to Bielefeld.

Levent Mercan and Steven Skrzybski are sidelined due to ankle injuries with the latter featuring in only 10 minutes since the turn of the year.

Matija Nastasic, Nabil Bentaleb, Benito Raman, Mark Uth and Hamza Mendyl are all expected not to be involved as the visitors seek to avoid a fifth straight away defeat.

Bielefeld's Sergio Cordova tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10, and the Venezuelan forward will miss the game as he is currently in quarantine.

Reinhold Yabo has also been asked to isolate, having come in close contact with his club and international teammate prior to his positive test.

Arminia Bielefeld possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Lenda, Nilsson, Pieper, Brunner; Kunze, Prietl, Okugawa; Voglsammer, Klos, Doan

Schalke 04 possible starting lineup:
Fahrmann; Thiaw, Stambouli, Becker; Mehmet-Can, Serdar, Mascarell, Bozdogan, Kolasinac; Harit, Huntelaar

We say: Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Schalke 04

Schalke will want to put up a late fight in a bid to remain afloat, so we expect them to have the wind in their sails for this one. However, as on many occasions this season, we expect them to come out of this one empty-handed, confirming their long-awaited exit from the Bundesliga.