The Turkish Super Lig's sternest defence welcome the division's most feeble attack to Istanbul on Monday, when Istanbul Basaksehir host Giresunspor.

Back-to-back defeats on two fronts have presented a minor stumbling block for Basaksehir in the last week.

Match preview

Travelling across town to face Fenerbahce and to Italy to take on Fiorentina was always going to be a challenging week for Basaksehir, but losing both could potentially be damaging for Emre Belozoglu's side.

However, they fully deserved to lose both games, as they implemented a very defensive mentality for the two encounters, recording just eight shots across them both.

Defeat to Fenerbahce last weekend saw them fall three points behind the new league leaders thanks to a late winner from Diego Rossi in a full-blooded Istanbul derby.

The two clubs are still in the ascendancy though, due to both having a game in hand on all the other sides near the top, but those three points in Fener's favour could prove crucial come May.

The defeat in Florence on Thursday could be more damaging in the short term, as it means they now must win against Hearts next week to ensure they avoid the additional knockout round in the Europa Conference League, so one eye could be on that game.

They took the lead on Thursday night thanks to an early Danijel Aleksic goal, but eventually succumbed to La Viola thanks to a Luka Jovic brace.

Winning 1-0 away to Galatasaray back in August seems a very long time ago now for Giresunspor.

Hakan Keles's side also won the following week against Kasimpasa, again by one goal to nil, but since then they have failed to win any of the next seven Super Lig games.

Failure to beat Konyaspor and Besiktas is understandable, but many of the other matches came against sides they must beat, especially at home, if they want to avoid being sucked in near the bottom.

The fact that they now occupy one of the four relegation spots proves this point, and it is also due in part to them having the joint-worst attack in the league, having scored just seven in 10 matches.

They are fortunate to have had Riad Bajic up front, as the Bosnian, who has scored with regularity at this level before for Konyaspor and upcoming opponents Basaksehir, has won five points with his three goals this season, more than half of Giresunspor's current points tally.

Team News

Back problems continue to hinder Mesut Ozil's Basaksehir career, as the World Cup winner has not featured in the league since an 11-minute cameo against Kayserispor during gameweek three.

Algerian international Ahmed Touba also remains sidelined in defence, so Leo Duarte and Youssouf Ndayishimiye look set to continue in the centre of defence.

Omer Ali Sahiner should come back in at right-back to replace European regular Junior Caicara, while Volkan Babacan could come back in for Muhammed Sengezer in goal, after the latter took his place for the trip to Florence.

Both Bertrand Traore and Serdar Gurler were left on the bench in midweek, so may be drafted back into the side to replace Stefano Okaka and Mounir Chouiar.

Alper Uludag is suspended for Giresunspor after reaching the yellow card limit against Ankaragucu last week.

Reserve left-back Faruk Can Genc has not made the bench once yet this season, so Keles may opt to use a makeshift option here.

The team has been relatively settled in recent weeks, with nine players starting the last four games.

Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Sahiner, Leo Duarte, Ndayishimiye, Kaldirim; Tekdemir, Ozcan, Biglia; Turuc, Traore, Gurler

Giresunspor possible starting lineup:
Piri; Bilazer, Arias, Fontanilla, Mejia; Campuzano, Akpinar, Saglam; Serginho, Bajic, Sainz

We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 1-0 Giresunspor

The league's best defence facing the worst attack looks like only going in one direction.

Basaksehir are still yet to find a ruthless edge themselves, but should have enough to take three points here.

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