After an exceptional start to the season, Konyaspor will continue their pursuit of European football when they welcome Sivasspor to the Konya Buyuksehir Belediye Stadium on Sunday morning.
Currently sitting in second, Konyaspor boast a comfortable, but not decisive, four-point gap over third-placed Istanbul Basaksehir, whilst the visitors are comfortably placed in mid-table.
Match preview
Without doubt the surprise package in the Turkish Super Lig this season, Konyaspor have delighted supporters with their performances, winning over half of their matches so far.
Suffering only two defeats in the first part of the campaign, the only thing that has stopped Konyaspor from challenging Trabzonspor at the top of the tree has been the vast amount of draws – just one side in the Super Lig have registered more stalemates than the Anatolian Eagle's six.
Despite their inability to convert one point into three at times, Konyaspor do boast an almost impeccable record at home this season, winning seven of their matches at the Konya Buyuksehir Belediye Stadium, while drawing the other three.
Looking to extend that record when Sivasspor travel South this weekend, the hosts could be met with a potential roadblock in their search for European football.
Only once in the previous eight meetings between the pair have Konyaspor picked up three points over Sivasspor, with their last home victory over the Sivas-based outfit coming in April 2018.
Granted, Sunday's hosts were victorious during the corresponding fixture earlier this season, with Sivasspor hoping to avoid a repeat of that result this weekend.
Consistency has been the main issue for Sivasspor this season, with standout moments like their mid-December victory over Galatasaray dampened by a disappointing defeat away to Kayserispor.
Having dropped out of the Europa Conference League earlier this season, it is unlikely that Sivasspor will return to the competition next season, as they currently sit six points off the European spots.
A late dash for the top-four is not out of the question for Sivasspor, and picking up points away to Konyaspor would be a great place to start.
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Team News
Konyaspor's lofty league position has in parts been down to their luck with injuries this season and they are once again expected to have close to a full-strength side.
Ogulcan Ulgun has been absent since early December for Konyaspor, with a muscle injury still expected to sideline the 23-year-old defender.
The hosts could welcome back both Paul-Jose M'Poku and Artem Kravets from injury, although how much time on the pitch they get remains to be seen.
For the visitors, their injury lists makes for much tougher reading as six first-team regulars are expected to be absent.
Fredrik Ulvestad, Jorge Felix and Ziya Erdal are all currently nursing muscle injuries, with the trio not expected to be involved.
Sivassppor are expected to welcome Aaron Appindangoye back from an Achilles problem in due course, but Sunday's meeting will likely come too soon.
Whereas, both Faycal Fajr and Max Gradel have been constants in the Sivasspor squad this season, yet they are currently with their national teams preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Sehic; Skubic, Demirbag, Bardakci, Guilherme; M'Poku, Hadziahemetovic; Bytyqi, Dikmen, Michalak; Cikalleshi
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Yildirim; Oguz, Osmanpasa, Camara, Ciftci; Okechukwu, Kesgin, Fajr; James, Yatabare, Konzen
We say: Konyaspor 2-1 Sivasspor
Konyaspor have been imperious at times this season and remain good money for a continental berth come the end of the campaign.
Whilst Sivasspor have underwhelmed at times, they do have a performance in them, with this clash not expected to be a walkover.
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 Konyaspor win with a probability of 49.64%. A draw had a probability of 25.8% and a win for Sivasspor had a probability of 24.54%.
The most likely scoreline for a Konyaspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.43%) and 2-1 (9.29%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.23%), while for a Sivasspor win it was 0-1 (8.05%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 8.1% likelihood.
