Fresh from ending a four-game winless run, Pendikspor welcome Caykur Rizespor to the Pendik Stadyumu on Sunday in round 36 of the 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig campaign.
This weekend's hosts will be looking to exact revenge on their visitors following a 5-1 thrashing in this season's reverse fixture back in December.
Match preview
Pendikspor showed great resolve to claim a 2-1 victory over Antalyaspor when the teams went head-to-head at Corendon Airlines Park on Monday.
Ibrahim Uzulmez's men trailed to Adam Buksa's 13th-minute penalty before goals from Mame Thiam and Halil Akbunar turned the game on its head.
As a result, the Pendik-based outfit remain 19th in the Turkish Super Lig table and are now four points adrift of safety heading into this weekend.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose over the previous three meetings, which have yielded one win apiece and one draw.
Having picked up the second-fewest points on home turf this term, Sunday's hosts will need to get going in front of their fans as they go in search of a much-needed victory.
Caykur Rizespor came away empty-handed from a five-goal thriller against Besiktas which ended 3-2 at the Tupras Stadium on Friday evening.
Ilhan Palut's men opened the scoring through Ibrahim Olawoyin but soon found themselves trailing to strikes from Omar Colley and Milot Rashica before Emir Han Topcu levelled matters, only for Joe Worrall to net a stoppage-time winner.
With 49 points picked up from 35 matches so far, the Black Sea Sparrowhawks sit eighth in the standings, six points shy of a place in the top four.
Having lost all but one of their last nine away outings, Sunday's visitors could really do with a positive result here to give their travelling fans reason to cheer this time.
Team News
Turkish duo Efe Tecimer and Mithat Pala miss out for Rizespor through knee and foot injuries respectively, while Benhur Keser continues to nurse a muscle problem.
Ibrahim Olawoyin has found the back of the net in five of his last seven appearances for the visitors, making him one to keep an eye on here.
Pendikspor's Welinton made his return to action against Antalyaspor last time out and is expected to feature right from the off once again here.
Mame Thiam's strike in the aforementioned game was his 16th of this league campaign,which saw him retain fourth place in the scoring charts.
Pendikspor possible starting lineup:
Canpolat; Tasdemir, Welinton, Ozturk, Ozgenc; Thiam, Kaya, Ndiaye; Diaby, Yardimci, Akbunar
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Cetin; Pehlivan, Topcu, Alikulov, Sahin; Olawoyin, Shelvey; Akintola, Varesanovic, Sauer; Gaich
We say: Pendikspor 1-1 Caykur Rizespor
Pendikspor's defensive frailties have been a major source of concern all-season long, and Rizespor will be looking to capitalise this weekend. We can see the sides matching each other over the 90 minutes and settling for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
