Ralf Fahrmann has said Schalke want to show RB Leipzig "what honest and proper Bundesliga football is about" when the two in-form sides clash at Leipzig's Zentralstadion.
Schalke have turned their season around in recent weeks, picking up five wins and two draws after losing their opening five fixtures. During that period of time only one team has won more points: RB Leipzig, who recorded seven straight wins and now top the league with a three-point cushion over nearest rivals Bayern Munich.
The hosts go into Saturday's clash as the slight favourites, but Schalke will not go down without a fight, goalkeeper Fahrmann told the Royal Blues' official website.
"We definitely want all three points against Leipzig," Fahrmann, who was born less than 100 kilometres away from Leipzig in Chemnitz, said, adding that the first non-three-match-week in German football this term could help the Royal Blues put in the special performance needed to be the surprise package.
"It means we can put all of our energy into the Leipzig game from the word go and show them what honest and proper Bundesliga football is about," Fahrmann said, seemingly referring to RB's image as a club that has not been welcomed by the majority of fans.
On Saturday, travelling Schalke supporters will become the next set of fans to protest against the club from Leipzig by wearing royal blue rain jackets in the away end.
While praising Leipzig's "outstanding" football in an interview with Leipziger Volkszeitung, Schalke's sporting executive Christian Heidel said Austrian soft drink company Red Bull's sponsorship of Leipzig changed the static of the league.
"We are no longer fighting fire with fire, and in my opinion that's not good," he said. "But that's no criticism at all, because RB stick to the rules we've made [as the league]."
Heidel, however, said Gazprom's sponsorship of Schalke could not be compared to Red Bull.
"Not for a second have they interfered with club business," he said. "That's a very big difference to Red Bull's engagement at Rasenballsport Leipzig."