Schalke 04 vs Hamburger SV: Royal Blues looking to rise back to Champions League spots

 The Gelsenkirchen giants will be looking to get back into Europe's top competition, but will need to strong-arm a spirited HSV outfit, in doing so.

Bundesliga - Seventh against eleventh. European hopefuls Schalke will be hopeful of bouncing back to form worthy of their aspirations when they entertain an improving Hamburg side at the Veltins-Arena on Wednesday, KO at 19:00 GMT.

Shallow Schalke looking to fight back

Die Königsblauen would have been keen on putting their poor 2014/15 season behind them, but despite their ambitions they have not been able to replicate the actions of their Ruhr rivals, Borussia Dortmund.
After being dumped out by Ukrainian Giants Shakhtar Donetsk, on home soil and in embarrassing fashion, die Knappen travelled to the Commerzbank-Arena where they played out to an incredibly dull, goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Schalke may be seventh, but they do, however, sit just one point off of fourth-placed Gladbach, albeit facing competition from a similarly lacklustre Bayer Leverkusen and an in-form Mainz side. It goes without saying they need to pick up form fast with a very tricky string of fixtures looming, including the top two and European contenders.

Hamburg forging path up the table

This time last season and the season before, Hamburg's feat of never being relegated from the Bundesliga was under serious threat. In fact, Schalke had a real chance to relegate Hamburg at the end of last season. Die Redhosen went from European hopefuls to a side in need of much confidence - narrowly staving off the drop thanks to winning the playoff two years in a row.  Now though, the Dinosaurs are looking good in beating the extinction, sitting a lofty seven points above the bottom three.
The famous Red Shorts travel to Gelsenkirchen on the back of a dogfight draw at home to Ingolstadt and a glamourless draw in Frankfurt, just like Schalke. They did, however, achieve a fine win over Gladbach at the Volksparkstadion, showing there is life in the old Dino yet and, as a result, sit eleventh.
The reverse fixture saw Leroy Sané score the only goal as Schalke ran out 1-0 winners at the Volksparkstadion in late September. On top of this, Hamburg have not won at the Veltins-Arena in any of the last four visits.