Two sides separated by just one place in the Turkish Super Lig and looking to steer clear of the relegation battle go head-to-head as Sivasspor host Konyaspor at the New Sivas 4 Eylul Stadyumu on Saturday.
The hosts sit 15th in the table with 23 points, one spot above the drop zone and just one point behind their visitors, who are only slightly better off in 14th.
Match preview
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Sivasspor's struggles continued last time out as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Gaziantep, extending their losing streak to three league matches.
The Braves have now managed just one win in their last 12 league outings, leaving them in a precarious position, just two points above the relegation zone.
Defeat on Saturday could see them drop into the bottom four if 16th-placed Kayserispor pick up a victory, which is a situation they will be hoping to avoid, banking on their home form in this fixture.
Sivasspor also boast a strong record at home in this fixture, winning 13 of their 24 meetings against Konyaspor across all competitions, losing only four.
Omer Erdogan's will also take confidence from their home form this season, having collected 16 of their 23 points at the New Sivas Stadium, in stark contrast to their seven points earned on the road.
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Konyaspor rarely perform on this ground, with their last league victory here coming in 2021, though they did manage a Turkish Cup win here last year.
Recep Ucar's men arrive in similarly poor form, having lost their last two league matches – a 3-2 defeat to Kayserispor followed by a 1-0 loss to Samsunspor.
The Anatolian Eagle have picked up 10 points on the road this season, winning three and drawing one of their 12 away fixtures. However, they have now gone four league matches without an away win.
A defeat on Saturday would be a significant blow for Konyaspor, as it would see Sivasspor leapfrog them and potentially reduce the three-point gap separating them from the relegation zone.
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Team News
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Sivasspor remain without Garry Rodrigues and Samba Camara, who are both sidelined with muscle injuries.
Tolga Cigerci is also unavailable, while Mehmet Albayrak is out until March 2025 with a cruciate ligament tear.
Konyaspor will be missing Emmanuel Boateng, who serves a suspension after his red card against Kayserispor, while Danijel Aleksic is also banned due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
On the injury front, Nikola Boranijasevic remains sidelined, while Filip Damjanovic is dealing with an ankle issue.
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Vural; Paluli, Radakovic, Sundberg, Ciftic; Moutoussamy, Charisis; Bekiroglu, Simic, Bassan; Manaj
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Slowik; Ulgun, Demirbag, Bazoer, Guilherme; Jevtovic, Pedrinho; Erdogan, Ibrahimoglu, Ndao; Kramer
We say: Sivasspor 2-1 Konyaspor
Sivasspor will fancy their chances against a struggling Konyaspor side that are struggling on the road at the moment. A third straight defeat looks highly likely for the visitors, who have typically found it difficult to pick up positive results on this ground, which is why we expect the hosts to win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
