Schalke 04 vs. Mainz 05 preview: Reis looking for his first Schalke victory
Schlake 04 will look to end a run of seven consecutive defeats in all competitions when they play host to Mainz 05 on Thursday.
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Schalke 04
Thomas Reis has been unbale to halt Schalke's losing run in his opening two games in charge. After beginning his tenure with a 2-0 home defeat to Freiburg, he looked to record his first points as Schalke boss in Saturday's away meeting with Werder Bremen.
Unfortunately for Reis, Bremen took a two-goal lead courtesy of goals from Niclas Füllkrug and Marvin Ducksch, and although Dominick Drexler pulled a goal back in the 89th minute, it was too little too late, as Bremen claimed a narrow 2-1 victory.
After losing their last seven league games, Schalke currently sit bottom of the Bundesliga table with four five points separating them from safety.
With Schalke in need of a positive result, they can take confidence from the fact that they have only lost one of their previous 10 Bundesliga games against Mainz.
Team News
The hosts have a number of injury concerns to contend with. Thomas Ouwejan and Rodrigo Zalazar are ruled out with knee and ankle problems, while they will also be without the services of Ibrahima Cissé, Leo Greiml, Marcin Kaminski and Sepp van den Berg.
Meanwhile, there are doubts over the availability of Marius Bülter and Ralf Fährmann.
Mainz 05
After losing to Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, the visitors will be looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat.
They were comfortably beaten 6-2 by Bayern, before they were brushed aside by Wolfsburg at the weekend. Goals from Patrick Wimmer, Maximilian Arnold and Ridle Baku helped Wolfsburg record a comfortable 3-0 victory that leaves them in 10th position.
As they turn their attention to Thursday's contest, Mainz will be looking to improve upon their recent away record. The visitors have lost three of their last four away games, conceding 12 goals across those three defeats.
The visitors will at least be confident of finding the net after scoring in each of their last eight Bundesliga away games.
Team News
Marlon Mustapha is sidelined for the visitors due to a thigh injury, while Maxim Leitsch is also set to miss out.
