Schalke target second league win

(GSM) – Schalke 04 are confident of achieving a second Bundesliga win of the season following their triumph over Benfica in the Champions League during mid-week.

Felix Magath’s side ran out as 2-0 victors in Europe on Wednesday, but admits his side cannot afford to drop any more Bundesliga points in the short term after losing four of their first six games.

“We are lagging behind in the league so we must pick up points at all costs,” Magath said.

“Since we have not been able to pick up the points we wanted in our home games, we now have a duty to do so away from home.

“The Champions League win has done us good, particularly since we did not concede any goals.”

Magath is unlikely to make many changes to his winning team, although Benedikt Höwedes, who was suspended in midweek, should return to the centre of the defence in place of Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Despite, Nürnberg inability to beat Schalke 04 in over 11 years, their coach Dieter Hecking believes there is no time like the present to change that record.

“As a team, we are working better than Schalke,” Hecking said. “They do have a lot of quality, but they only have four points.”

Nürnberg beat Stuttgart 2-1 in their last home engagement, and Hecking wants another three points this weekend.

He said: “If we play to our ability, then we have a chance of being as successful as we were against Stuttgart, but everything has got to come together.”

Nürnberg only have two points more than Schalke after six games yet Hecking believes they should have one point more than they do.

“We were unfortunate to lose in Freiburg, but then we got points where we did not expect them in Hamburg and Leverkusen,” he explained.

“Therefore, we are owed a point, but a win against Schalke would give us a positive record and that has got to be our aim on Saturday.”