Two of last season's high-performing sides Sivasspor and Trabzonspor tussle in gameweek one of the 2024-25 Turkish Super Lig season at the New Sivas 4 Eylul Stadium on Sunday.
Both sides finished in the previous campaign's top seven, and they seek strong starts to the new term.
Match preview
All things considered, the preceding season's seventh-place finish was promising for Sivasspor following the club's 10th and 14th final standing in the last years under Riza Calimbay.
The manager who guided the Sivas outfit to fourth in 2019-20 and fifth the year later departed after a 2022-23 year that saw Yigidos end a point above relegated Giresunspor.
There was more managerial uncertainty last season as Servet Cetin departed on the eve of 2024, but the club seem to have found their way again under Bulent Uygun, underscored by the club's highest finish in three seasons.
Now, they hope to build on the encouraging seventh last term, aiming to push for a continental spot at the end of the campaign and Sivasspor's promising pre-season, in which they avoided defeat in three games adds to the optimism ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Visiting Sivas are last season's fourth-placed club Trabzonspor, who were the best of the rest outside an outstanding top two that finished 32 points clear of Abdullah Avci's men.
The returning Avci ended the club's 38-year wait for a championship in the 2021-22 campaign and returned to the top three under their title-winning boss after Nenad Bjelica could only guide them to sixth in 2022-23.
Having never finished lower than fourth under Avci, Trabzonspor will hope that pattern continues under the 61-year-old this term as they aim to compete for the league's top honours again.
For that to materialise, the Trabzon outfit require a significant drop-off from Galatasaray and Fenerbahce this term and consistency on their end.
A commendable pre-season and progress in their Europa League second qualifying round match bade well only for Avci's men to fall in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie against Rapid Vienna on Thursday, and it remains to be seen if Black Sea Storm have next week's reverse fixture on their minds when they approach this weekend's visit to Sivas.
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Team News
Mehmet Albayrak is a long-term absentee for Sivasspor after sustaining a serious knee injury that potentially rules him out until 2025.
The pair of Uros Radakovic and Alex Pritchard could make their league debuts for the hosts, keen to impress the home fans.
Avci's men came through their competitive games unscathed, and the away side have no reported absentees ahead of Sunday's league opener.
With Paul Onuachu back at parent club Southampton, Trabzonspor must find new match-winners to replace the Nigerian's 14 league goals.
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Nikolic; Paluli, Camara, Radakovic, Ciftci; Pritchard, Turgunboev, Charisis; Bassan, Manaj, Menig
Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Malheiro, Denswil, Savic, Barisic; Mendy, Yokuslu; Visca, Tufan, Trezeguet; Dragus
We say: Sivasspor 1-1 Trabzonspor
Despite not taking part in competitive games unlike Trabzonspor, Sivasspor head into gameweek one on the back of encouraging results.
The hosts also have a three-game unbeaten run against Sunday's away side to add to the home support's optimism before this weekend, and we are backing them to avoid defeat against a side with one eye on next week's continental tie in Austria.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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