#B04S04: Countdown to kick-off

The final floodlit match of the season is here: The Werkself entertain Schalke at the BayArena on Friday night. The game kicks off at 20.30 CET and will be refereed by Marco Fritz from Korb. Read on for the pre-match stats and facts on #B04S04:

The last five meetings

The Werkself are unbeaten in the previous five Bundesliga matches against Schalke. The records show four wins and one draw. If the Werkself win the match on Friday night then it would be the third victory in succession against Schalke and could be the start of a run.

Favourite opponent for the Werkself

A review of the last five meetings is positive for Bayer 04 as is the whole Bundesliga record of this fixture. The Werkself have played the Royal Blues a total of 66 times. Bayer 04 are the clear leaders in this record – 30 wins for the Werkself compares with 16 for Schalke and the two sides have drawn 19 times. The Werkself have only notched up more wins in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart (33).

Midfield battle

Neither club is in the top ten – the last time that happened ahead of a Bundesliga game was 13 years ago. Then Bayer 04 were 13th and Schalke 11th as they faced each other on matchday eight in the 1987/88 campaign. Bayer 04 and Schalke are currently in a similar situation and are rivals in the Bundesliga with Royal Blues lying in eleventh place and Bayer 04 in twelfth. The Werkself will go above Schalke if they win the match.

Volland is on Chicharito's heels

Kevin Volland is closing in on Chicharito in the list of goalscorers. He has found the back of the net five times in his last eight Bundesliga matches and has been directly involved in six of the last nine Bayer 04 goals (five goals, one assist). Volland has scored six goals so far – level with the suspended Hakan Calhanoglu – putting him as the second highest Werkself scorer behind Chicharito (ten). If he carries on in this vein he could well catch the Mexican with four games to play..

The Werkself are the bogey team for Weinzierl

The Schalke 04 coach Markus Weinzierl is not likely to have a good memory of the matches against the Werkself. That is because Bayer 04 are the only club Weinzierl has led his team out in more than two Bundesliga matches without clocking up a win. In his time as coach at Augsburg and now with Schalke his record is three draws and six defeats.

Bayer 04 milestones for Bellarabi, Kampl and Kießling

Karim Bellarabi and Kevin Kampl could celebrate milestones at Bayer 04. An appearance again Schalke would be Bundesliga match 100 for Karim in a Werkself shirt. The milestone for Kevin Kampl against Schalke would be his 50th outing for Bayer 04. Both also played Bundesliga matches at other clubs: Karim made 26 appearances for Eintracht Braunschweig and Kampl had 14 games for Borussia Dortmund before moving to Leverkusen.

Stefan Kießling is on the verge of a very impressive number of appearances. The Leverkusen crowd favourite is set to make his 333rd Bundesliga appearance for the Werkself with the number 11 on his back.

Live Action on the Live App

The Bayer 04 live app, voted as one of the most innovative apps by a large app blog, is raring to go. You can download the app to follow the Werkself at >> bit.ly/b04live<<