Monday night's Turkish Super Lig action kicks off with a crucial mid-table battle at Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadyumu, where Istanbul Basaksehir will face off against Kayserispor.
In a stacked mid-table, the hosts will head into this match with 33 points after 25 league matches, while the visitors are on 29 points and looking to pull away from the sides in the drop zone.
Match preview
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Istanbul Basaksehir were building up some solid momentum over the last month, securing three straight victories over Konyaspor and Istanbulspor before booking their place in the Turkish Cup quarter-finals with a penalty-shootout win over Hatayspor last week.
However, the Grey Owls saw their positive run of results brought to an end last weekend when they were fairly comfortably beaten by league leaders Galatasaray 2-0 at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi.
Cagdas Atan's side will now look forward to returning to their home patch, where they have excelled this season, losing only twice in their last 10 matches while winning five of their last seven.
While Basaksehir failed to win or score in either of their last two matches against this opponent, both those fixtures were at the Kadir Has Stadium, while the last encounter at this venue ended 2-0 in favour of the hosts.
Meanwhile, after going 10 games unbeaten (W8 D2 L0) between October and December last year, it is now just one day shy of two months since Kayserispor last tasted victory in any competition.
Following seven consecutive defeats from mid-December to the end of January, the club decided to terminate Recep Ucar's tenure just 21 matches after he replaced the manager in the opposite dugout this weekend.
Burak Yilmaz was brought in to lead the Anatolian Stars on January 27, and the new boss is still unbeaten, recording three consecutive draws since this arrival, including a very credible 0-0 against his former side Besiktas last weekend.
Kayserispor have managed to collect 12 points out of a possible 36 in their away matches this season, and the new manager will now be aiming to end their five-game winless streak (W0 D1 L4) on the road.
A win for the visitors is crucial here as their recent winless run has seen them drop to just two points of Gaziantep FK, who are currently the first side below the dotted line.
Team News
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The hosts will have to make do without the services of midfielders Dimitrios Pelkas, Patryk Szysz and Onur Ergun, all of whom have been ruled out due to injury.
In defence, Omer Ali Sahiner and Leo Duarte are also on the treatment table and will miss Monday's match, while Lucas Lima will be forced into a watching brief as he serves his one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellows.
Kayserispor will be able to welcome back Kartal Yilmaz, who will likely slot straight back into midfield for this match after missing out due to suspension against Galatasaray last week.
Defender Majid Hosseini has missed the last 12 matches for the hosts with a muscle injury and is still at least a couple of weeks away from a return, while Anthony Uzodimma will remain sidelined until next month.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Dubois, Opoku, Ba, Abeid; De Souza; Figueiredo, Kemen, Ozcan, Turuc; Piatek
Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Bayazit; Sazdagi, Jeanvier, Kocaman, Carole; Bourabia, Shukurov; Boa Morte, Karimi, Cardoso; Nazon
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 1-1 Kayserispor
While Istanbul Basaksehir are carrying better form into this match, Kayserispor are still unbeaten under Burak Yilmaz and would have taken huge confidence from their performance against Besiktas last week. This looks like a very level contest on paper, and we feel there will be nothing to split these two at the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
