In-form sides Alanyaspor and Konyaspor will both be seeking to make a winning start to 2025 when they go head-to-head at GAIN Park Stadyumu on Friday in round 18 of the 2024-25 Turkish Super Lig season.
The hosts are unbeaten in seven of their last eight matches, while the away side make the journey aiming to extend their ongoing run of matches without defeat to seven.
Match preview
© Imago
Albeit in a more difficult manner than expected, Konyaspor saw off the challenge of Karacabey Belediyespor to secure safe passage into the Turkish Cup courtesy of a 1-0 triumph on December 17.
Despite being in the ascendancy for large spells of the contest, Recep Ucar's men were unable to break the deadlock and looked set to head to extra time before they had their blushes spared by a late Umut Nayir penalty.
This snapped a run of two straight stalemates against Antalyaspor and Rizespor which saw the Anatolian Eagles drop down to 11th place in the Turkish Super Lig table, three points off Istanbul Basaksehir in seventh.
Now unbeaten in six straight games ahead of this weekend's matchup against an opposing outfit that have had the upper hand in this fixture of late, Alanyaspor will be looking to use their current momentum to secure a positive result.
Friday's visitors have managed just one victory from the last seven matches between the teams and suffered a 2-0 defeat in the most recent encounter back in January at the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium.
Having lost each of their four games in October, Alanyaspor dropped into the relegation zone and were in danger of being left far behind, but they have since turned a corner over the subsequent two months.
Consecutive draws against Bodrumspor and Samsunspor were followed by four wins in five games across all competitions either side of a defeat to Kayserispor before Sami Ugurlu's men closed out 2024 with a 1-1 draw against Besiktas.
Nuno Lima's fifth-minute opener had the Orange-and-Green dreaming of a second win in this fixture just over 12 months apart, only for Rafa Silva to restore parity two minutes later with his fourth goal of the campaign.
Following Kayserispor's defeat last time out, Alanyaspor have now moved three points clear of the drop zone in what is shaping up to be a frenetic battle for survival with 10th and 17th separated by only six points.
Conceding just 19 goals across their 16 league games so far—the fifth-best record in the division—Friday's hosts have had their defence to thank for their recent resurgence but will need the attacking department to pick up soon off the back of only 16 goals scored so far.
Team News
© Imago
After going goalless in his first 13 matches of the season, Nuno Lima has now found the back of the net in consecutive matches and will be keen to pick up where he left off.
Leading goalscorer Ui-jo Hwang was handed a meagre 18 minutes of action against Besiktas but is expected to feature in a more prominent capacity this weekend.
Thirty-one-year-old Josip Calusic still awaits his debut appearance for Konyaspor as he continues to battle with a foot injury that has kept him on the sidelines since July.
Coming off the bench last time out to score only a second goal this term, forward Umut Nayir will be pushing for a return to the visitors' starting lineup for this one.
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Aliti, Aksoy, Lima; Ozdemir, Makouta, Janvier, Hadergjonaj; Augusto, Karaca, Cordova
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Slowik; Ulgun, Demirbag, Bazoer, Guilherme; Jevtovic, Aleksic, Pedro, Erdogan, Ndao; Nayir
We say: Alanyaspor 1-0 Konyaspor
As two of the lowest-scoring teams prepare to go head-to-head, we are anticipating a nervy and cagey affair with little goalmouth action at both ends.
That said, we just about fancy the home side to secure the points when all is said and done.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
