Istanbul Basaksehir will look to recover from a horrendous start to the season when they visit the Kadir Has Stadium to face Kayserispor on Monday.

The 2020 Turkish champions find themselves in the relegation zone after six matches of the Super Lig season.

Match preview

While their opponents may be in disarray, Kayserispor continue to be a steady presence, sitting comfortably in mid-table.

After a ninth-place finish last season, Kayserispor are going in the same direction this season in eighth this time around, level on points with Trabzonspor, Konyaspor and Kasimpasa.

Cagdas Atan's men have made a decent start and only suffered their first defeat of the season last weekend at Besiktas.

Kayserispor looked likely to move into the top three after taking an early second-half lead, but they were eventually sunk by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's first Besiktas goal, falling to a 2-1 defeat.

Beating higher-level opposition is the next step for Atan, as their only victories so far have come against Gaziantep and Samsunspor - two sides who were in the bottom two when Kayserispor faced them.

Continuing their excellent home form will be on the agenda too, both this season and in recent meetings with Basaksehir.

Kayserispor have taken seven points from a possible nine here at the Kadir Has Stadium and have won their last three home encounters at home to Basaksehir without conceding.

That is not the kind of record Basaksehir and their manager Emre Belozoglu need coming into this clash.

The Istanbul-based club have had a shocking start to the season, currently occupying a relegation position after taking just three points from their first six matches.

After winning the title in 2019-20, Basaksehir were then almost embroiled in a relegation battle the season after, spending much of the season near the bottom before eventually finishing 12th.

A similar battle looks set to be ahead of them this season though, as Emre's side sit third-from-bottom.

Four teams going down this season means it is not unfathomable that Basaksehir may struggle to get themselves away from trouble unless there is a major turnaround in form.

In fairness to the Basaksehir side, they have had a very tough week, facing the top two, and while they only fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat to Galatasaray, they were hopeless in midweek when Fenerbahce thrashed them 4-0.

The damage was well and truly done in the first three weeks of the season, when Basaksehir lost at Alanyaspor, as well as at home to Fatih Karagumruk and Konyaspor.

With games against Gaziantep and Samsunspor to come after this weekend, two wins will be absolutely crucial if Emre is to lead his side out of the bottom four, and to potentially save his job.

Team News

Miguel Cardoso will remain out with an ankle sprain for Kayserispor after missing all of September's action.

Kartal Yilmaz arrived on loan from Besiktas and made his debut against his parent club last week, so could be the man to continue in Cardoso's place.

Iranian international Ali Karimi lost his place to make way for Yilmaz, but after nursing a minor injury, he could return in some capacity.

Basaksehir have a number of short-term injury concerns, including defensive duo Edgar Ie (ankle) and Omer Ali Sahiner (muscle).

Sahiner's absence, combined with injuries to fellow right-backs Leo Dubois and Sener Ozbayrakli is a big worry, and after allowing Junior Caicara to leave over the summer, Israeli midfielder Eden Kartsev has had to fill in on the right side of defence.

Emre made the brave decision to hook both of his attackers on Thursday night against Fener, with Krzysztof Piatek and Dimitrios Pelkas both coming off after just half an hour at 3-0 down.

Basaksehir did not improve significantly after the changes, but it will be interesting to see whether the manager opts to start with the two players he brought on - Joao Figueiredo and Philippe Keny.

Patryk Szysz and Efe Arda Koyuncu are sidelined too for this one, along with backup goalkeeper Muhammed Sengezer.

Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Bayazit; Uzodimma, Attamah, Kolovetsios, Carole; Civelek, Karimi, Yilmaz; Carlos Mane, Thiam, Sazdagi

Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Kartsev, Ba, Leo Duarte, Lucas Lima; Turuc, Ozcan, Aleksic, Gurler; Keny, Joao Figueiredo

We say: Kayserispor 1-0 Istanbul Basaksehir

Kayserispor have been a tough nut to crack so far this season, and were unfortunate in suffering their first defeat of the season at Besiktas last weekend.

The hosts boast a fantastic recent record against Basaksehir, and the lowly visitors will come into this clash with their morale severely dented after a thrashing in midweek.


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