Six wins from their opening nine Bundesliga matches sees Schalke sitting third in the German top flight and they can continue that excellent form in the Europa League on Thursday.
Nobody is going to be catching runaway leaders Bayern Munich for domestic honours in 2016 but Schalke should be looking to put up a decent showing in this competition and have got off to the perfect start, 3-0 and 4-0 winners respectively in the opening two rounds of fixtures.
APOEL and Asteras Tripoli were dispatched with the minimum of fuss and while Sparta Prague should provide a sterner test, I think the hosts are a cut above.
The Czechs are also unbeaten in Group K but they were held in Greece first time out and their record away from home in Europe is poor.
Regular Europa League participants in recent seasons, Sparta have tasted victory just once in 12 matches on their travels dating back to 2012 and have also triumphed in only two of their five Czech Liga games outside of the capital so far this term.
That is not a great return in such an uncompetitive event and the quality of opposition they will face on Thursday is far superior to anything on offer at home.
At 8/11, I rate Schalke as banker material and expect them to be well supported. I have Andre Breitenreiter’s men no bigger than 1/2 shots and they can all but secure their place in the knockout stage with the maximum haul.
4pts Back Schalke (vs. Sparta) @ 8/11 (various)