On Saturday, September 23, 2023, a football match between St. Pauli and Schalke 04 will occur at the Millerntor-Stadion. The Germany 2 Bundesliga battle promises to be very exciting. The two teams that will take the field will do their best to celebrate their promotion at the end of this season. Our experts have prepared an excellent and accurate St. Pauli vs Schalke 04 prediction, so don’t hesitate to use it in your bets.
St. Pauli vs Schalke 04: What To Anticipate From the First Meet in 2023
“Kiezkicker” managed to get out of their draw and now aim to start a winning streak, and all this after a very confident victory against powerful Holstein Kiel. Now Fabian Hürzeler’s men are preparing for the meeting with Gelsenkirchen as if on wings.
Schalke is also approaching the upcoming match in a very good mood. There are several reasons for this: the first is that “Die Knappen” was able to break their three-match losing streak, and the second is how they managed to do it, as the previous game against Magdeburg can be safely retold to posterity.
St. Pauli
The hosts were finally able to get closer to their goal and join the teams that are contending for promotion to the Bundesliga. Now the team from the Hamburg region is in 6th place, lagging behind the coveted ticket by only 3 points.
Holsten Kiel should be thanked for this leap up, as they were unable to do anything about St. Pauli in their head-to-head match at the “Kiezkicker” field. Yes, the hosts came into this match with a five-match unbeaten streak, but if a draw against Fortuna (0:0) or Magdeburg (0:0) can still be called a good result, then draws to Braunschweig (1:1) and Greuther Furth (0:0) can hardly be classified as such.
But the home game against Holstein Kiel was nothing like the previous ones. The hosts ran to the attack from the first seconds of the confrontation, and it paid off almost instantly. Connor Metcalfe opened the scoring in the 4th minute, and 3 minutes later Eric Smith scored a goal – 2-0 by the 7th minute was an incredible start.
Then, there was a slight lull in the match between St. Pauli and Holstein Kiel, which, however, was calmly controlled by the home team. St Pauli managed to consolidate and even increase their advantage at the end of the first half when Oladapo Afolayan was left alone at the far post and practically buried the guests’ hopes for any points in this match – 3:0 in the 38th minute.
The second half began less rosy for St. Pauli, and the reason for this mood was Lewis Holtby, whom the home team’s defenders seemed to have simply forgotten about, and he easily rolled the ball past the goalkeeper – 3:1. Kiel scored one goal and seemed to revive at least some intrigue, but by the end of the game, Lars Ritzka and Marcel Hartel were able to kill it completely, setting the final score of the match – 5:1.
The more than convincing victory in the match with Holstein Kiel was a great preparation for the game St Pauli – Schalke 04.
Schalke 04
The guests come to the match with not such a good situation in the standings of the 2. Bundesliga. Only the 12th place is clearly not what Gelsenkirchen expected after the first 6 rounds.
The reason for this tournament position of “Die Königsblauen” was the defeats against Hamburger (5:3), Braunschweig (1:0), Holstein Kiel (0:2) and a draw against Wehen (1:1). Of course, there were also positive moments in Schalke’s game, such as the victory against Kaiserslautern (3:0) or the previous game against Magdeburg (4:3), which turned out to be simply incredible.
Magdeburg did not travel to the Veltins-Arena as a favorite, but the team was definitely not an easy opponent. The guests confirmed this in the first half hour of the match when Silas Gnaka scored two goals against Schalke 04. The hosts managed to score one of them before the break, thanks to the efforts of Sebastian Polter, who put the ball in the far corner with a one-touch shot – 1:2 after the first half.
Not only was “Die Knappen” losing, but the main goalkeeper Marius Muller was injured just before going to the locker room, and 38-year-old Michael Langer, who last played for Schalke in 2021, also in a 2. Bundesliga match had to take his place.
Despite these problems, the hosts did not lose their cool but gathered for the second half of the game. Schalke 04 did not start actively putting pressure on the opponent from the beginning but rather gradually looked for approaches to the opponent’s goal. This paid off in the 62nd minute when Lino Tempelmann passed the ball and assisted Derry Murkin, who put the ball into the far corner of the goal – 2:2. And then the real madness began on the field, as Magdeburg regained the lead 5 minutes later, thanks to the efforts of Connor Krempicki – 2:3. However, this match could not end so easily, and after 12 minutes the hosts were ahead again. First, Thomas Ouwejan put in a gorgeous free kick in the 69th minute, and then Sebastian Polter converted a penalty kick in the 79th minute. Final result: 4:3 in favor of Schalke 04.
In the end, we can’t help but mention the veteran Michael Langer. The goalkeeper made only one save in the entire second half, but it happened at the most crucial moment, when he pulled a header from Luc Castaignos, saving 3 points for his team.
St Pauli vs Schalke 04: Head-to-Head
The teams rarely met each other, which is not surprising, as they were in different divisions almost all the time. Over the previous 12 years, St Pauli and Schalke 04 played only 3 matches, two of which were won by “Die Königsblauen”, and one ended in a triumph for St. Pauli.
| St. Pauli – Schalke 04 H2H | |||
| 2021/22 Season | |||
| Schalke 04 | 3 | 2 | St. Pauli |
| St. Pauli | 2 | 1 | Schalke 04 |
| 2010/11 Season | |||
| St. Pauli | 0 | 2 | Schalke 04 |
St Pauli vs Schalke 04: Possible Lineups
As for the team lineup for the match St Pauli vs Schalke 04, the team from Gelsenkirchen has more problems. Schalke cannot count on not only the main goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann but also his closest backup Marius Muller, so we are waiting for Michael Langer to start. Also, the main forward, Simon Terodde, is still in the infirmary.
St. Pauli’s situation with the missing players is not so bad, Fabian Hürzeler is waiting for the return of the main midfielder in the person of Jackson Irvine.
| St. Pauli vs Schalke 04 Lineups | ||
| St. Pauli | Schalke 04 | |
| Goalkeepers | Nikola Vasilj | Michael Langer |
| Defenders | Lars Ritzka, Karol Mets, Hauke Wahl, Manolis Saliakas | Thomas Ouwejan, Marcin Kaminski, Timo Baumgartl, Cedric Brunner |
| Midfielders | Eric Smith, Connor Metcalfe, Marcel Hartel, Oladapo Afolayan, Elias Saad | Lino Tempelmann, Paul Seguin, Assan Ouedraogo, Tobias Mohr |
| Forwards | Andreas Albers | Sebastian Polter, Derry Murkin |
St. Pauli vs Schalke 04: Match Prediction
St. Pauli is a very organized team, especially when it comes to playing in the defense. If in the previous match Schalke managed to break through the opponent’s defense four times at once, this time the trip to the Millerntor-Stadion promises to be less successful. “Die Kiezkicker”, on the other hand, feels very confident in their own field and is able to keep a positive result for themselves.
St Pauli vs Schalke 04 prediction: St. Pauli to win with odds at 1.75.
