Alanyaspor are looking to remain in the Turkish Super Lig's top four this weekend, when they travel to face Antalaysor, who will want to bounce back from defeat last time out.
Saturday's hosts have managed to pick up their form of late, recently recording back-to-back wins in the league for the first time this season, while Alanyaspor have only lost once in their last 10 outings.
Match preview
Alfons Groenendijk's side currently occupy 13th place in the Super Lig, and they could not avoid defeat last weekend when they travelled to second-placed Hatayspor.
Despite equalising quickly after going behind, through Paul Mukairu's second strike of the campaign, Antalyaspor could not hold on to earn a point and ended up coming away from Hatay with a 3-1 loss to their name.
Antalyaspor will be pleased to be back on home soil this Saturday, having won double the amount of points at the Antalya Stadium than they have done on their travels, and three points against Alanyaspor could take Groenendijk's side six points clear of the relegation zone.
Mukairu's goal last weekend means that Antalyaspor have now scored in each of their last eight matches in all competitions, which suggests that the home side will be confident in front of goal against Alanyaspor.
The visitors' defensive stats away from home compared to on their own patch are not too dissimilar; however, Bulent Korkmaz's side have only managed six goals on their travels compared to 14 strikes at the Bahcesehir Okullari Stadium.
Bottom-of-the-table Rizespor produced a big upset in the Super Lig at the beginning of November as they defeated Alanyaspor 2-0 to end their eight-game unbeaten run, but the fourth-placed side responded well last time out with a 2-0 win over Besiktas.
Khouma Babacar opened the scoring last weekend and after sustaining some pressure from the visitors, Famara Diedhiou sealed the three points for Alanyaspor with a strike in the 94th minute.
A clean sheet for Serkan Kirintili was also an important aspect of last weekend's victory, as Korkmaz's side have conceded 19 league goals in total during this campaign, the most out of the top 10 teams.
Past meetings between these two teams in recent years have brought an even amount of victories for both sides, with Antalyaspor coming out on top in the last encounter, which came in the cup in March.
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Team News
Antalyaspor have no new injury concerns with Dogukan Nelik, Enzo Crivelli, Haji Wright, Harun Alpsoy and Ufuk Akyol all continuing their absence from the matchday squad.
The home side will lineup in their favoured 3-4-2-1 formation, with Mukairu leading the line looking to score in his third consecutive game after netting his first goal of the season against Altay earlier this month.
Naldo came into the defensive trio last time out, but Bahadir Ozturk is expected to return to the starting 11 after a strong performance during the side's last victory.
Alanyaspor left-back Cristian Borja will continue his recovery from a broken hand and so will not be available for selection this Saturday, but Tayfur Bingol is certain to start in that full-back role and carry on his fine form having received player of the match ratings in his last two games.
Korkmaz is likely to name an unchanged lineup from the team which defeated Besiktas last weekend, meaning that Fatih Aksoy and Umut Gunes will continue in midfield for the visitors.
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Boffin; Kudryashov, Ozturk, Sari; Sinik, Fredy, Poli, Balci; Vural, Amilton; Mukairu
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Kirintili; Bingol, Mevlja, Awaziem, Juanfran; Gunes, Aksoy; Davidson, Akbaba, Karaca; Babacar
We say: Antalyaspor 1-2 Alanyaspor
Alanyaspor should be confident heading into this encounter given their superior league position, and after a strong 2-0 win last weekend against Besiktas.
Antalyaspor, on the other hand, will want to avoid another defeat and that may influence the home side's performance as they worry about recording back-to-back defeats.
Top tip
Sammy Wynne
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 Antalyaspor win with a probability of 42.09%. A win for Alanyaspor had a probability of 29.46% and a draw had a probability of 28.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an Antalyaspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.26%) and 2-1 (8.24%). The likeliest Alanyaspor win was 0-1 (10.52%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.17%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 3.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Antalyaspor would win this match.
