Konyaspor will be looking to get back to winning ways this Sunday when they welcome Goztepe SK to the Torku Arena, with the hosts continuing to try and keep pressure on the league leaders.
The visitors need points for a completely different reason, as they currently occupy one of the relegation zone spots.
Match preview
Konyaspor are currently second in the Turkish Super Lig, and despite the fact they are 15 points away from Trabzonspor, they will be aiming to keep up the pressure throughout the final games of this season.
There will also be a lot of concentration on simply maintaining their current place, with the chasing pack something the squad needs to be wary of.
Fenerbahce were able to close the gap on them last weekend when they defeated Ilhan Palut's men 2-1 despite the fact that Zymer Bytyqi had originally given his team the lead.
Konyaspor will now be looking for an immediate response to that loss, especially since they have only managed to pick up two victories in their previous six matches.
Even though their recent form is not the strongest, they have only been beaten once at the Torku Arena this season in the league, which should provide plenty of confidence to the group.
The visitors have coped better on the road in this campaign, but even then they have only managed three wins, which is reflected by their position in the table.
Right now, Goztepe are 18th in the table and eight points adrift of safety, which is a gap that they must begin to close before the fixtures run out.
Last weekend they ended an eight-match run without a victory by defeating Menemenspor 2-0, and even though that was just a friendly, it could be the confidence booster that the squad needed.
Makana Baku and Adis Jahovic got themselves on the scoresheet that day, while the clean sheet will have been welcomed by a team that has the third-worst goal difference in the division.
Goztepe will need another performance similar to that if they are hoping to achieve consecutive victories, and certainly an improvement on the previous meeting, when they lost 2-0 thanks to a Sokol Cikalleshi brace.
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Team News
Eray Birnican is an option for Konyaspor once again following his suspension, which is something that will provide a boost to the squad for this game.
Cikalleshi should be in line to continue working as the sole striker with a 4-2-3-1 formation continuing to be implemented by Palut.
Dzenan Burekovic and Marko Mihojevic are both injury concerns for the visitors right now, and both men are not expected to be part of the squad this weekend.
Franco Di Santo is set to be the striker once again, while both Berkan Emir and Aytac Kara will return from their suspension.
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Sehic; Skubic, Cagiran, Demirbag, Guilherme; Dikmen, Hadziahmetovic; Amilton, Cekici, Bytyqi; Cikalleshi
Goztepe SK possible starting lineup:
Egribayat; Alici, Arslanagic, Angel, Emir; Ndiaye, Kara, Nwobodo, Aydogdu, Akbunar; Di Santo
We say: Konyaspor 3-0 Goztepe SK
Konyaspor will be looking at this as a fixture as one where they should get back to winning ways, as they are the firm favourites on paper.
Of course, the visitors will be looking to cause an upset, and will certainly battle for points, but given their recent form, it is something that could prove to be difficult.
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 Konyaspor win with a probability of 63.82%. A draw had a probability of 20.5% and a win for Goztepe SK had a probability of 15.69%.
The most likely scoreline for a Konyaspor win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (10.82%) and 2-1 (9.9%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.72%), while for a Goztepe SK win it was 0-1 (4.77%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 3-0 win for Konyaspor in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Konyaspor.
