Two sides looking to escape the shackles of relegation in the Turkish Super Lig will face off on Sunday when Kayserispor welcome Alanyaspor to Kadir Has Stadium.
The hosts are the first team in the relegation zone, but the visitors are only one spot and two points ahead, making this a relegation six-pointer.
Match preview
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Kayserispor are finding it difficult to rediscover the form that helped them go on a five-match unbeaten streak in the Super Lig between October 5 and November 8.
The Anatolian Star have lost their last two matches by a combined 9-2 scoreline, losing 6-2 to Fenerbahce before a 3-0 defeat against Caykur Rizespor in their last league game.
The loss to Rizespor was a sore one for Kayserispor who had two men sent off, with manager Sinan Kaloglu getting a red card in the first half, before Stephane Bahoken received a second yellow card in the 75th minute.
The Kayseri-based side must now win the relegation six-pointer against Alanyaspor, as victory on Sunday will take them directly above the opposition and out of the relegation zone.
However, the Anatolian Star have failed to win any of their six home matches in this campaign, picking up three wins and three draws each.
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Meanwhile, Alanyaspor ended a five-game winless run in the Super Lig with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Trabzonspor last Saturday, playing over 20 minutes with a man down.
The victory seemed to have opened the floodgates for Sami Ugurlu's side, who followed up that game with a 4-1 win over third division side Fethiyespor on Wednesday.
Alanyaspor climbed out of the relegation zone following last weekend's win, and a win on Sunday could further steer them away from the zone, possibly opening up a five-point gap if other results are favourable to them.
In a worst-case scenario, the Alanya-based side will hope to avoid defeat, which would still leave them above the relegation zone, and securing draws in their last two away games will leave them confident of the possibility of achieving this.
Team News
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Kayserispor will have to make do without 32-year-old forward Bahoken, who will miss this clash through suspension after his dismissal last time out.
Centre-back Majid Hosseini also continues to struggle with a knee injury and is not expected back on the pitch until the middle of this month.
Alanyaspor will remain without defender Furkan Bayir, who has an ankle injury and is expected to be sidelined until the latter part of this month.
Yusuf Ozdemir was sent off in the win over Trabzonspor and is suspended for this clash, a similar scenario with Nuno Lima who has accumulated an unhealthy number of yellow cards.
Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Piri; Attamhah, Kolovetsios, Carole; Kaldirim, Karimi, Bourabia, Yilmaz, Sazdagi; Boa Morte, Cardoso
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Balkovec, Aliti, Aksoy, Hadergjonaj; Richard, Makouta; Augusto, Janvier, Karaca; Cordova
We say: Kayserispor 1-1 Alanyaspor
Kayserispor are struggling at the moment and are on a downward spiral, while they have especially struggled on home soil.
With Alanyaspor's recent resurgence, we believe that the visitors have enough at the moment to take something from this game, which is why we are predicting a stalemate.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
