Seeking to remain in the top four, Trabzonspor will play host to Istanbul Basaksehir at Papara Park in round 18 of the Turkish Super Lig on Saturday.

The Black Sea Storm saw their last match abandoned after Istanbulspor's president Ecmel Faik Sarialioglu withdrew his players from the pitch when his team was denied a penalty call midway through the second half.

Match preview

Trabzonspor were leading 2-1 against Istanbulspor last time out before the match was abandoned after the referee failed to award a penalty to the People's Team following a collision between Istanbulspor midfielder Florian Loshaj and Trabzonspor's Batista Mendy.

Although no decision has been made on what happens next, according to Turkish Football Federation rules, "A team that leaves a competition will be declared a loser by default, and in addition, the number of points awarded in case of victory will be deducted from its existing points".

Abdullah Avci's men are currently in fourth place in the Super Lig table with 26 points from eight wins, two draws and five defeats after 15 matches.

The Black Sea Storm have the opportunity to win three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time this season, following 3-1 victories against Corum FK in the Turkish Cup and Gaziantep in the Super Lig.

Having won 1-0 the last time Istanbul Basaksehir visited, Avci's men can pick up back-to-back home wins against the visitors for the first time since 2015.

However, Trabzonspor lost 1-0 to Kayserispor in their last home league game, which was their second defeat on home soil this season after a 3-2 loss to Rizespor at Papara Park on August 26, while they are yet to record a draw at home with five wins to go with it.

Basaksehir continued their recent resurgence with a 3-1 win over Sivasspor last time out, with Krzysztof Piatek scoring a brace from the spot while Dimitrios Pelkas added the third to complete a comeback victory.

Cagdas Atan replaced Emre Belozoglu early in the season after the latter oversaw five losses in the first six games, and he has managed to help the Grey Owls climb to 12th in the table with 18 points, three points above 17th-placed Konyaspor.

However, the next issue for Atan is to help his side turn their poor away form around after seeing them lose their last three games on the road while picking up just one win on their trips in the league this season.

Only Istanbulspor (one) and Samsunspor (four) have picked up fewer away points than the Grey Owls (five) in this campaign, while Atan's men have only scored more goals on the road (four) than Istanbulspor (three).

The last time Basaksehir won away at Trabzonspor was in October 2020, losing once and recording a draw at Papara Park since then.

Team News

Trabzonspor are not expected to welcome back Nicolas Pepe (back) and Mislav Orsic (ACL) until January and March respectively, while Umut Bozok (thigh) has to pass a late fitness test to determine his availability.

Paul Onuachu has found the net seven times for the Black Sea Storm and the Nigeria international could add to his tally when he leads the line once again on Saturday.

As for the visitors, they will be without centre-back Jerome Opoku, who was sent off in Basaksehir's win over Hatayspor, and is absent for this week's meeting with Trabzonspor.

Atan may be without the injured Edgar Ie, Efe Arda Koyuncu, Muhammed Sengezer and Patryk Szysz, with the latter still missing because of a ligament layoff.

Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Larsen, Mendy, Denswil, Elmali; Ozdemir; Visca, Omur, Trezeguet, Bakasetas; Onuachu

Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Dubois, Duarte, Ba, Lima; Ozcan; Abeid, Turuc, Pelkas, Figueiredo; Piatek

We say: Trabzonspor 2-0 Istanbul Basaksehir

Basaksehir might be experiencing a resurgence in recent times, but their away form still leaves a lot to be desired.

Trabzonspor are also doing well at the moment and are clearly the better side right now, which means that their quality is likely to overwhelm the visitors, ending in a win for them.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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