Unbeaten so far this season, Trabzonspor will continue their search of a first Turkish Super Lig title since 1983-84 when they travel to Kayserispor on Saturday afternoon.
Trabzonspor have finished as runners-up on six occasions since the last time they came out on top, most recently in the curtailed 2019-20 campaign.
Match preview
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Abdullah Avci has enjoyed a relatively strong stint as Trabzonspor manager since taking over in November 2020, even lifting the Turkish Super Cup in his first season with the club.
Tasked with returning the glory days to one of Turkey's biggest clubs, Avci has seen his side start the campaign in fantastic form and will enter the final fixture before the second international break second in the table.
Winners of their first three Super Lig fixtures, Trabzonspor's 100% record fell during an enthralling 2-2 draw with Galatasaray in mid-September.
They bounced back immediately with a slender 1-0 victory over mid-table Kasimpasa, before back-to-back draws against Konyaspor and Alanyaspor has seen the Black Sea Storm fall off the top of the table and into second.
Just the one point behind Fenerbahce, Trabzonspor will take on the record Turkish champions after the international break, but they will be desperate to keep pace at the top of the tree when they face European-chasing Kayserispor.
Unlike their opponents on Saturday Kayserispor got off to a stumbling start, picking up just one point from a possible six to start the season, however they soon found form and have not lost since the opening day of the campaign.
A run of three wins from their next four catapulted them up the table and into European football contention, including an astonishing 3-0 triumph over reigning champions Galatasaray.
However, Kayserispor were also left frustrated when they could only manage a 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Giresunspor, meaning they currently occupy eighth spot in the league.
Since lifting the Turkish Cup in 2007-08, Kayserispor have established themselves as a regular in the Turkish Super Lig and have only faced one season outside of the top flight.
Having only finished above 10th once since returning to the first tier in 2015, Kayserispor are on course for their highest finish in the Super Lig since 2012-13 and have Hikmet Karaman to thank for their upturn in form.
Parting ways with Yalcin Kosukavak after just four months in charge, Karaman came in after the first match and has rejuvenated a Kayserispor team who only narrowly missed out on relegation last year.
Impressing during his spell with the club so far, Karaman will be looking to end a torrid run of form against Trabzonspor, with his side winless in their last eight meetings against the side from Trabzon.
A whopping 12 managers have come and gone since the last time they beat the six-time Super Lig winners, triumphing 3-2 away from home in May 2017.
Kayserispor's home record against Trabzonspor paints an even more desperate picture, with the Anadolu Yildizi winless in their past eight meetings at the Kadir Has Stadium.
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Team News
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Gokhan Sazdagi has missed Kayserispor's last two matches through COVID-19 and the winger is still in isolation, so will be absent for the hosts once more.
Gustavo Campanharo arrived from Chapecoense in January and caught the eye during his 24 Super Lig appearances, yet has not played so far this campaign due to a muscle injury.
Anthony Uzodimma has featured once for the hosts in their opening Super Lig fixtures, picking up an injury following the second game of the season and will no doubt be absent in this match.
Otherwise boasting a fairly clean bill of health, Karaman could turn to summer signing Mario Gavranovic, who is yet to make his Kayserispor debut since joining from Dinamo Zagreb.
In contrast to their hosts, an injury crisis has threatened to derail Trabzonspor's early-season title challenge, with a number of players absent for their trip to Kayseri.
Dorukhan Tokoz (thigh), Bengali-Fode Koita (thigh) and Stefano Denswil (hip) will all be absent through injury, making the visitors' task that little bit harder.
Abdulkadir Parmak is also a likely absentee through a muscle injury, whilst Anders Trondsen has missed the last three with a groin strain, yet could make a late push for the bench.
One player definitely not available for Avci is Huseyin Turkmen, who was sent off in Trabzonspor's draw with Alanyaspor last time out, meaning they will be without two first-choice defenders following Vitor Hugo's straight red card two matches ago.
Whilst they may be shaky at the back without Turkmen and Hugo, the visitors have faced no problems down the other end, top scoring in the division with 14 goals so far.
Key to their attacking prowess this season has been Andreas Cornelius, who has scored three times in six matches since arriving at the Turkish club from Parma in August.
Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Lung; Bulut, Kolovetsios, Hosseini, Carole; Attamah, Akdag, Cardoso; Bassan, Mensah, Thiam
Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Peres, Ie, Kaplan, Koybasi; Ozdemir, Hamsik; Nwakaeme, Bakasetas, Djaniny; Cornelius
We say: Kayserispor 0-2 Trabzonspor
Playing some of their best football in years, Trabzonspor are dreaming of a famous title win at the end of the season and Avci will be well aware that it is these kinds of games championship-winning teams should be winning.
Kayserispor will not be an easy test for the visitors, yet with talents like Cornelius and Marek Hamsik amongst their ranks, expect the Black Sea Storm to triumph in this one.
Top tip
Amos Murphy
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 Trabzonspor win with a probability of 50.5%. A draw had a probability of 25.7% and a win for Kayserispor had a probability of 23.84%.
The most likely scoreline for a Trabzonspor win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.63%) and 1-2 (9.34%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.15%), while for a Kayserispor win it was 1-0 (7.9%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Trabzonspor would win this match.
