Schalke's fresh start

There has also been a changing of the guard at bottom club Schalke, where new coach Christian Gross will take charge of his first game away to Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Former Tottenham and Stuttgart coach Gross has been charged with leading the Gelsenkirchen-based side out of danger and ending its miserable winless streak of 29 games.

Having not won since last January, the seven-time German champion is now just two games away from equaling Tasmania Berlin's unwanted record of 31 games without a victory, set back in 1966.

To boost its survival fight, Schalke this week drafted in Sead Kolasinac on loan from Arsenal for the remainder of the season.

The defender will head back to the club that he joined as a youth and went on to become a first-team regular before moving to the Gunners in 2017.

"In the coming weeks and months I'd like to make my contribution toward us getting as many points as possible," said the Bosnian. "Together we can manage to stay up－I'm 100 percent convinced of that."

The fullback made 113 appearances for Arsenal, helping it reach the 2019 Europa League final against Chelsea. Recently, however, he had fallen down the pecking order at the north London club.

"Sead needs to be playing regularly, so we have decided together that a move back to Germany with Schalke will benefit him at this moment,"Arsenal technical director Edu said."We will be keeping in close contact with Sead, and wish him huge success for the remainder of the season with Schalke."

AFP