Schalke, goalless at home, host Leipzig, still pointless away in the Bundesliga

Schalke have not scored in three Bundesliga home games this season, and RB Leipzig have not taken a point in three away. One of those runs should end on Saturday at 15:30, when the promoted side, 16th on 6 points, host Leipzig, fifth on 12.

Two sides of Leipzig

Leipzig's league record this season splits cleanly in two. At home Leipzig have won all four games with 18 goals scored and none conceded, the latest a 4-0 against Elversberg last Saturday. Away from home they have lost three out of three and scored twice while conceding 11.

Tuesday's cup tie at third-tier Rot-Weiss Essen showed both faces in one evening. Essen's Lucas Brumme put his side ahead after nine minutes when Leipzig keeper Ørjan Nyland slipped, and Leipzig's Nicolas Seiwald was sent off for a second yellow card in the 44th minute. Leipzig substitute Christoph Baumgartner then scored in the 78th and 82nd minutes for a 2-1 win and a place in the last 16. Tag24 called it Leipzig's first away win of the season.

"After the red card we knew we needed extra class today," Baumgartner told Sportschau. Of his team-mate Seiwald, Baumgartner said after the game, as quoted by Tag24: "Today we saved his backside, another time he'll do it for us again."

Schalke's goal drought

Schalke went the other way in the cup. They lost 2-0 at second-division Dynamo Dresden on Wednesday, Dresden's Patrice Covic scoring in the 54th minute and Christoph Daferner in the 88th. It is the sixth season running that the club has gone out in the second round, and dpa counted a fifth competitive game in a row without a win, four of them without a goal. Schalke coach Miron Muslic was without seven regulars in Dresden.

In the league Schalke's last game was a 0-0 at Köln. Schalke have one win, three draws and three defeats, with four goals scored in seven matches, the fewest in the division. The defence has held better: seven conceded, the third-lowest total after Dortmund and Bayern.

"We must not look for excuses, we have to accept the situation as it is," Muslic said after the Dresden defeat, warning that "the next weeks will be tough". Goalkeeper Loris Karius said the team lacked power going forward: "We have to question ourselves as a team and now show a reaction." Captain Kenan Karaman said the team had to show "a different face" against Leipzig.

What is at stake

Schalke sit level on 6 points with Stuttgart and Union Berlin, 3 points above bottom side Mönchengladbach. A win would lift Leipzig to 15 points; Freiburg and Leverkusen, third and fourth, have 13 before their own games. Bayern and Dortmund, level at the top on 17, meet three hours later in Munich.