Super Lig strugglers Istanbul Basaksehir welcome Fenerbahce to the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium on Sunday afternoon for their fifth league game of the new campaign.
Ten points currently separate the two sides at this early stage, with the hosts yet to secure a single point from their first four league matches.
Match preview
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Since winning their first ever Turkish top-flight title in 2019-20, it is fair to say that Istanbul Basaksehir have had a torrid 14 months.
After finishing in 12th place last season – losing 16 games and at times at serious risk of an embarrassing relegation – the Grey Owls have begun the new campaign with four successive defeats and are one of only two sides yet to claim a single point.
Former Fenerbahce head coach Aykut Kocaman has a huge task in turning the club's fortunes around and success on Sunday is unlikely against the Yellow Canaries, who they have beaten only four times in their last 15 meetings against them.
Basaksehir will be hoping that summer signing Stefan Okaka can hit the ground running in front of goal. The 32-year-old striker, who found the net just four times in an injury-hit campaign for Udinese last season, has experience playing in the Premier League, Serie A and the Belgian Pro League and should provide the Grey Owls with a real focal point in attack.
Suffering a fifth successive defeat this weekend would see them endure their worst start to a Super Lig season since they secured promotion to the top flight in 2014.
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Fenerbahce dropped their first points in the Super Lig this season when they played out a 1-1 draw at home against Sivasspor last weekend.
Former Queens Park Rangers winger Bright Osayi-Samuel put the hosts in front, however the visitors were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time which Pedro Henrique converted to bring the scores level.
The Yellow Canaries are now one of four sides who sit at the top of the table with 10 points from their first four league games, along with Besiktas, Trabzonspor and Konyaspor.
Fenerbahce head into this weekend's game after claiming a 1-1 draw away at German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt in their opening Europa League encounter on Thursday night.
German playmaker Mesut Ozil, who returned to familiar territory, scored his first European goal in three years to put the Turkish giants in front before the hosts equalised through Sam Lammers.
Vitor Pereira's men now turn their attention to Sunday's game against Basaksehir, and having won each of their last four meetings against them – scoring at least twice on each occasion – they should be confident of claiming all three points away from home.
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Team News
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Basaksehir midfielder Danijel Aleksic and forward Ahmed Kutucu are both ruled out of Sunday's game with muscle injuries.
Kocaman is set to stick with a 4-1-4-1 formation, which will likely see defensive midfielder Tolga Cigerci start just in front of the back four.
Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Nacer Chadli could be handed his first league start of the season on the left flank, while experienced Bosnia & Herzegovina international Edin Visca is expected to play on the right-wing.
As for Fenerbahce, Serdar Dursun (collarbone fracture), Irfan Kahveci (hamstring), Nazim Sangare (muscle), Jose Sosa (groin) and Marcel Tisserand (muscle) are all ruled out with injuries.
Serdar Aziz is set to remain in the back three alongside Kim Min-jae and Attila Szalai, while Osayi-Samuel could continue as a right wing-back, with Ferdi Kadioglu starting on the opposite side.
In attack, Ozil is expected to join former Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta and former West Ham United forward Enner Valencia up front.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Sahiner, Ndayishimiye, Duarte, Lima; Cigerci; Visca, Tekdemir, Ozcan, Turuc; Okaka
Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:
Bayindir; Aziz, Kim, Szalai; Osayi-Samuel, Yandas, Gustavo, Kadioglu; Ozil, Samatta, Valencia
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 0-2 Fenerbahce
Everything points towards a routine away victory for Fenerbahce on Sunday afternoon and we expect Basaksehir's miserable run to continue.
The hosts will need to provide plenty of service to target man Okaka if they are to have any chance of scoring this weekend, however we feel the visitors should be able to cope with any threat the Grey Owls may pose.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fenerbahce win with a probability of 45.71%. A win for Istanbul Basaksehir had a probability of 29.46% and a draw had a probability of 24.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fenerbahce win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.26%) and 0-2 (7.6%). The likeliest Istanbul Basaksehir win was 1-0 (7.43%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 4.5% likelihood.
