Zentner (c) – Hanche-Olsen, Bell, Fernandes – Da Costa, Barreiro, Kohr, Martin – Onisiwo, Lee - Ajorque

Dahmen, Caci, Hack, Barkok, Ingvartsen, Mustapha, Burgzorg, Weiper

Schwolow – Brunner, van den Berg, Kaminski, Matriciani – Krauß, Kral – Karaman, Zalazar, Bülter – Terodde (c)

Langer, Ouwejan, Yoshida, Uronen, Latza, Skarke, Drexler, Frey, Polter

Mainz's 10-game unbeaten run coming to an end on Matchday 30 won't be too much of a concern if they immediately put it right on Friday night. Their biggest worry in that loss will be that they failed to find the back of the net in a league game for the first time since their 1-0 defeat to Schalke earlier in the season.

As mentioned below, Schalke have been much improved since the season's turn and have just three defeats since Matchday 18, compared to 12 losses from their first 17 matchdays. They've won two of their last three but both of those victories came at home, and Reis' side have lost each of their previous two on the road.

Zentner - Hanche-Olsen, Bell, Fernandes - Da Costa, Barreiro, Kohr (c), Caci - Lee, Onisiwo - Ajorque

Burkardt (knee), Leitsch (match fitness), Widmer (ankle)

Schwolow - Matriciani, Yoshida (c), Kaminski, Uronen - Kral, Krauß - Karaman, Zalazar, Bülter - Terodde

Balanta (knee), Fährmann (thigh), Heekeren (cruciate ligament), Jenz (thigh), Kozuki (ankle)

Mainz beat league leaders Bayern 3-1 in their last home outing, taking their unbeaten run to seven at the MEWA Arena (W5, D2). Meanwhile, they have emerged victorious in each of their last two Friday night outings as hosts, seeing off Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach 5-0 and 4-0, respectively.

While Schalke have improved since the midway point of the campaign, Mainz are the third-best team in the Rückrunde, with their 25 points beaten only by the pack leading duo of Bayern Munich (26 points) and Borussia Dortmund (30).

Defeat to Wolfsburg last time out ended Mainz's 10-game unbeaten run in the league, which represented a club record for the 05ers in a single Bundesliga season.

Schalke are more than capable of taking games deep, as evidenced in their late turnaround against Werder Bremen (more on that to come), and they have now scored 43 percent of their goals (12 out of 28) in the final quarter of an hour of matches.

Schalke are unbeaten in their last five meetings with the 05ers (W2, D3), which is their longest ongoing such sequence against any team in the top-flight.

Schalke have already collected twice as many points in the Rückrunde (18) as they managed across the entirety of the Hinrunde (9), and their record in the second half of the season is in the black (W4, D6, L3).

The European race meets the relegation battle on Friday night as top-six hopefuls Mainz host second-bottom Schalke. Victory could see the 05ers move level on points with sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while the Royal Blues know a win would, for the time being at least, move them all the way up into the safety of 14th-place. Loads on the line.