Two sides who are battling to avoid relegation from the Turkish Super Lig will do battle on Friday when Yeni Malatyaspor welcome Goztepe SK to the New Malatya Stadium.
The hosts are currently propping up the Turkish Super Lig table, while Goztepe sit just outside the relegation zone.
Match preview
Yeni Malatyaspor are rock bottom having collected just 15 points from their 20 league games, and they enter Friday's contest off the back of three consecutive defeats in all competitions.
Although, they can take some positives from their last performance as they lost 1-0 to runaway leaders Trabzonspor.
Despite losing by just the one goal, Yeni Malatyaspor require points as well as performances if they are to remain in the top flight.
Friday's hosts have issues at both ends of the pitch, with Rizespor the only side in the Turkish Super Lig to have conceded more goals than Yeni Malatyaspor, while they have also scored the fewest goals in the league.
Marius Sumudica's side may be low on confidence, but they can take encouragement from the fact that one of their four league victories this term came against Goztepe back in August, and they will be hoping to replicate that 1-0 victory on Friday.
As for the visitors, they will be buoyant after beginning the new year with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Antalyaspor last weekend.
In that contest, Goztepe went into half time with a one-goal lead courtesy of Atnc Nukan's 23rd-minute strike, but it was in the second half when the hosts began to run riot.
All three second half goals fell the way of Cherif Ndiaye, who bagged a 27-minute hat-trick to help his side end a four-game winless league run.
Nestor El Maestro will now be hoping that his side can build upon that comfortable victory this weekend as they aim to win on the road for just the second time in the league this season.
Having only collected one league clean sheet this season, the Goztepe boss will also be looking for a strong defensive performance on Friday.
- D
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- W
Team News
Wallace is missing for the hosts due to injury, while Benjamin Tetteh and Oussama Haddadi are on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations with their respective national sides.
Stevie Mallan was given a starting berth against Trabzonspor, and the 25-year-old is expected to start once again on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kubilay Kanatsizkus is expected to lead the line for the hosts.
As for the visitors, Francois Moubandje has recently joined on loan from Dinamo Zagreb, while Oussama Tannane has signed on a permanent deal.
Tannane may have to settle for a place on the bench, while Moubandje could come into the starting lineup to replace the suspended Dino Arslanagic, who was sent off in last weekend's victory over Antalyaspor.
After scoring a hat-trick last Sunday, Ndiaye will be full of confidence when he starts upfront for Goztepe on Friday.
Yeni Malatyaspor possible starting lineup:
Ozbir; Eskihellac, Ciftpinar, Kaya, Awuku, Hafez; Mallan, Aabid, Nshimirimana, Chouiar; Kanatsizkus
Goztepe SK possible starting lineup:
Egribayat; Paluli, Nukan, Wilker; Alici, Nwobodo, Aydogdu, Moubandje; Akbunar, Baku, Ndiaye
We say: Yeni Malatyaspor 1-1 Goztepe SK
Although Yeni Malatyaspor may enter the contest bottom of the league table, we think that they will claim a point on Friday when they face a Goztepe side who have won just once away from home in the league this season.
Top tip
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 Yeni Malatyaspor win with a probability of 42.33%. A win for Goztepe SK had a probability of 31.96% and a draw had a probability of 25.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Yeni Malatyaspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.88%) and 2-0 (7.22%). The likeliest Goztepe SK win was 0-1 (8.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.2%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood.
