Round five of the 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig campaign sees Trabzonspor entertain the challenge of Besiktas at the Papara Park on Sunday evening.
Off the back of emphatic victories last time out, the sides will be full of confidence heading into this weekend's contest, where both of them will be seeking to pick up where they left off.
Match preview
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Besiktas claimed a third win across all competitions as they saw off the threat of Sivasspor in a 2-0 victory at the Besiktas Park on September 3.
Senol Gunes's men went into the interval in pole position following strikes from Omar Colley and Milot Rashica, which turned out to be enough to claim all three points.
As a result, the Black Eagles have moved up to fourth place in the Turkish Super Lig table, two points adrift of leaders and city rivals Fenerbahce.
Lying in store next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have lost just one of the most recent 10 meetings between the teams.
Currently on a run of six straight away wins, Sunday's visitors will be confident of coming away with maximum points on the road once again.
Trabzonspor cruised to a comfortable 5-1 triumph over Kasimpasa when the sides faced off at the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadyumu on September 1.
Nenad Bjelica's men ran riot in the opening period through goals from Enis Destan, Enis Bardhi and Filip Benkovic before second-half goals from Bardhi and Goktan Gurpuz sealed the deal.
With five points from their four matches so far, the Burgundy Blues sit seventh in the standings, three points and as many places adrift of this weekend's opponents.
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Team News
Turkish duo Eren Elmali and Huseyin Turkmen are both unavailable for Trabzonspor through hip and muscle injuries respectively, while Joaquin Fernandez is battling a leg problem.
Dimitrios Kourbelis was briefly sidelined but returned to action while on international duty with Greece, meaning that he is on course to feature here.
Mislav Orsic will have to wait a little longer to make his competitive debut for the home side as the forward continues to nurse a knee injury.
Twenty-three-year-old Tayyip Sanuc will not play any part for Besiktas due to a knee injury, which he picked up in the second week of April.
Omar Colley has found the back of the net in three of his last four appearances for the visitors and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Aydin, Baniya, Benkovic, Larsen; Haspolat, Omur, Bakasetas; Bardhi, Visca, Destam
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Rosier, Uysal, Colley, Bulut; Fernandes, Hadziahmetovic; Rashica, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Muleka; Aboubakar
We say: Trabzonspor 2-2 Besiktas
Both teams are equipped with an impressive level of offensive firepower, which should make for an open and end to end contest here. We are tipping the sides to match each other over the 90 minutes and settle for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
