On Saturday, fifth-placed Istanbul Basaksehir will be looking to claim consecutive victories when they face Gaziantep in the Turkish Super Lig.
The visitors sit in ninth position and three points on Saturday would see them leapfrog their hosts in the league table.
Match preview
Istanbul Basaksehir brought a four-game winless run to an end in their most recent encounter when they picked up a narrow 1-0 away victory over Fenerbahce.
A second-half strike from Berkay Ozcan proved enough to guide Istanbul Basaksehir to their first victory of 2022.
Following an away trip last time out, Emre Belozoglu's side will return to home comforts this weekend as they look to continue their quest for European qualification.
In their previous home fixture, a 2-1 defeat to Goztepe ended an unbeaten eight-game home run, although Saturday's hosts will be confident of producing a positive response at the Fatih Terim Stadium after winning seven of their 11 home league games this term.
Having scored at least two goals in seven of their last nine home league games, Istanbul Basaksehir will be confident of troubling the Gaziantep defence on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the visitors enter the weekend contest in a rich vein of form after losing just once in their previous eight league games.
Last Saturday, Gaziantep thumped Sivasspor 5-1 thanks to a Papy Djilobodji brace and strikes from Muhammet Demir, Alexandru Maxim and Furkan Soyalp.
They followed that impressive victory with a Turkish Cup win in midweek, as they squeezed past Kasimpasa to reach the quarter-final stage.
Gaziantep will now turn their attention back to league action, with Saturday's visitors looking for an improvement on their travels after winning just one away league game this season.
Having picked up only six of their 35 points away from home this term, Gaziantep need to start collecting more points on the road if they are to close the gap to the top four.
- W
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
Team News
After picking up his fourth yellow card of the league season last weekend, Istanbul Basaksehir's Tolga Cigerci will be suspended for Saturday's contest.
Cigerci's ban could result in a midfield reshuffle with Deniz Turuc moving into a central position, while Serdar Gurler may feature on the right side.
Stefano Okaka has top-scored for the hosts with nine league goals this term, and he will have the responsibility of leading the line on Saturday.
As for Gaziantep, they are expected to line up with a back three of Djilobodji, Ertugrul Ersoy and Alin Tosca.
Halil Ibrahim Pehlivan was forced off in the 27th minute against Sivasspor last weekend and the 28-year-old is expected to miss Saturday's encounter.
With 11 league goals between them, Joao Figueiredo and Demir will make up Gaziantep's forward line.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Caicara, Duarte, Ndayishimiye, Kaldirim; Tosca, Aleksic, Ozcan; Gurler, Chadli, Okaka
Gaziantep possible starting lineup:
Guvenc; Djilobodji, Tosca, Ersoy; Kitsiou, Soyalp, Maxim, Vetrih, Mendyl; Figueiredo, Demir
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 Gaziantep
Istanbul Basaksehir have fared well at home this term, while Gaziantep's impressive home results have failed to translate into points on the road, and with the visitors continuing to struggle on their travels, we think that the hosts will prevail in a closely-fought contest.
Top tip
body check tags ::
Previews by email
