Sunday's Turkish Super Lig fixtures kick off at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadyumu with Istanbul Basaksehir playing host to Alanyaspor.
The hosts got their 2024-25 league season started with a 1-1 draw away to Rizespor, while the visitors played to the same scoreline at home against Eyupspor.
Match preview
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Istanbul Basaksehir had a successful 2023-24 Super Lig season, as they managed to move up a spot in the league standings from the previous campaign into fourth which secured them a Conference League qualification spot.
So far, the Grey Owls' journey to reach the main draw of Europe's third-tier cup competition has gone incredibly well, having secured their place in the playoffs following a 2-0 win over Iberia in midweek.
That result completed a 3-0 aggregate win in the round and followed a 10-0 aggregate thumping of La Fiorita in the previous round, which included a 6-0 victory here in Istanbul at the end of last month.
Cagdas Atan's side are now unbeaten after their first five games in all competitions this season and have only conceded one loss in their last nine league games dating back to the middle of March.
Both these sides took all three points at home in this fixture last season, with Basaksehir winning 3-2 at this venue, while Alanyaspor secured a 2-0 victory over at Kirbiyik Holding Stadyumu.
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Meanwhile, after a shocking 2022-23 season in which they avoided the drop by a single point, Alanyaspor will be fairly content with their eighth-placed finish last term and will be looking to pull closer to the European spots this term.
Fatih Tekke's side recorded the most drawn matches last season with 16, including consecutive 1-1 outcomes in each of their last four games during the run-in, and they got the new campaign started with the exact same scoreline last weekend.
Samu Saiz gave the newly promoted Eyupspur the lead but Sergio Cordova levelled proceedings 12 minutes later. However, the major talking point of the match came from the sidelines when visiting manager Arda Turan was sent off on his Super Lig debut in the dugout.
Alanyaspor will now head on the road for the first time this season looking to maintain a seven-match unbeaten away run since a 2-1 defeat to Kasimpasa at the start of February.
Team News
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Istanbul Basaksehir have got the new season started with just one confirmed absentee in new arrival Matchoi Djalo, who sustained an injury in pre-season and is expected to remain sidelined for a while longer.
Jerome Opoku and Ousseynou Ba signed from Arouca and Olympiacos respectively this summer. Both made their full debuts last week and should keep their places alongside Leo Duarte in the backline.
After a spell on loan at 1.Division outfit Sochi, Sergio Cordova opened his account for Alanyaspor last weekend and will likely continue to lead the line alongside Loide Augusto.
New signings Gaius Makouta and Serdar Dursun were both handed debuts off the bench last weekend and will be hoping to make the starting 11 in this one.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Sengezer; Ba, Opoku, Duarte, Lima; Ozdemir, Kemen, Ozcan; Keny, Gurler, Figueiredo
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Lima, Aliti, Balkovec, Hadergjonaj, Coelho, Janvier, Makouta, Karaca; Cordova, Augusto
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 Alanyaspor
Both these sides produced fairly underwhelming performances over the opening weekend, but the game time would certainly have helped them shake off any rustiness.
The hosts may have been a little guilty of prioritising the European competition last week, but they will know the importance of keeping up with the leading pack, and we expect them to notch up their first win of the league season in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
