Köln host promoted side Schalke in the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon in a bid to continue their unbeaten run at home this season which shows a stark contrast to their away form whilst facing injuries.

1. FC Köln

Köln slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt to make it 16 games in a row without a win away from home in the Bundesliga - just short of a club record.

At home, however, the Billy Goats have been significantly better with league wins against Hoffenheim on matchday one and in their last home tie in the Rhine derby versus Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Despite this, their defence has been an everlasting problem with a chance for Köln to be the sorry victims of breaking an unwanted club record of 21 games without a clean sheet in a row against Schalke should they concede. 

Köln will however take some solace from the fact that they are unbeaten in their last eleven games against the Königsblauen (the royal blues) including getting the double over the Ruhr side in both of their last encounters two seasons ago in the 2. Bundesliga.

Due to injuries, however, Köln will have to continue to rely on Marius Bülter as their prime source of goals up front with both Ragnar Ache and new signing Thijs Dallinga (who is ruled out for the season) being ruled out.

Ahead of the tie, coach René Wagner said: “Schalke can defend with passion. We need to get shots on goal and win more one-on-ones in attack. We want to score goals and put our opponents under pressure.

Team news

For Köln, the injury list is telling of a difficult period so early in the season as Timo Hübers, Rav Van den Berg, Ellyes Skhiri and the strikers Ragnar Ache,Thijs Dallinga and Imad Rondić are all out.

Schalke 04

Schalke were left goalless once again in their last outing at home against Mainz where they lost 1-0 - this marking the fourth time this season they have ended a game without scoring.

The frontline of Schalke is yet to score a goal for them with only the midfield and defence making the scoresheet for the West German side.

This is shown in their offensive output as they sit rock bottom of the Bundesliga in goals scored with only four goals.

In complete contrast, their defence is the fourth strongest in the Bundesliga with the help of a career renaissance of keeper Loris Karius who helped his side to two clean sheets against Elversberg and league leaders Bayern.

Sitting in 15th, Schalke are level on points with 17th place Union Berlin with a loss meaning likely entry into the bottom three for the first time since matchday one.

On facing Köln, Schalke coach Miron Muslić said: “Against Mainz, this was the first time we played like that in months. We cannot do this against Köln.”

On Köln's young star Said El Mala, Muslić noted: “He's an absolute output player. He has a shot and this is his weapon and we have to try and stop that quality.”

Team news

Emil Højlund, captain Kenan Karaman, Bryan Lasme, Moussa Sylla, Ron Schallenberg, goalkeeper Johannes Siebeking and former Köln player Dejan Ljubičić are all out injured for Schalke.