Alanyaspor enter Friday's clash against bottom-placed Caykur Rizespor on an eight-game unbeaten run in the Turkish Super Lig, and that form has placed them well in third spot after 11 games.
The hosts meanwhile cannot boast such great form having only picked up four points from a possible 33 so far this season, but Rizespor did pick up their first victory two outings ago.
Match preview
Caykur Rizespor's first win of the season was sealed in dramatic fashion as Hamza Hamzaoglu's side had to wait until the 11th minute of stoppage time for Selim Ay to find the back of the net and secure a 2-1 win over Kasimpasa.
However, a tough test was to follow against the current Super Lig leaders Trabzonspor last time out, and despite going 1-0 ahead courtesy of a penalty from Damjan Djokovic, Rizespor could not hang onto their lead and ended up losing 2-1 on that occasion.
Not only did Rizespor have to wait nine games before their first victory of the season, but in that time the side lost eight and drew one match, meaning that they are already eight points away from 16th spot and safety.
Given Alanyaspor's superior position in the league table, Rizespor are not expected to be able to claim any points on Friday, which could leave the side eight points behind 19th spot and even at this early stage of the campaign, a points gap that big will be difficult to make up.
The visitors are in fine form but they could not record three wins on the bounce last time out as they were held to a 2-2 draw against 18th-placed Goztepe.
Bulent Korkmaz's side were nearing a third defeat of the season as that game on Sunday closed in on the final moments, but Nemanja Milunovic rescued a point for Alanyaspor just one minute from time.
Alanyaspor are currently six points behind the leaders Trabzonspor, but they are in danger of dropping down the table as far as eighth spot with the Super Lig remaining tight in the early stages, so they cannot afford to drop anymore points against sides in the relegation zone.
Despite their third-place position in the league, Alanyaspor will need to be stronger defensively if they are to continue to push for European spots come the end of the season, as currently they have conceded 17 goals in 11 matches, the most out of any team in the top eight.
After recording four clean sheets in their first six outings, Korkmaz's side have not stopped the opposition from finding the back of the net since then, a run of five games, and in those five games they have conceded eight goals.
Perhaps from those stats, Rizespor may fancy their chances at scoring on Friday, but the home side have only averaged one goal per game at home this season.
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Team News
Ronaldo Mendes will continue to be absent for Rizespor after sustaining a knee injury, but there are no other forced selection issues for Hamzaoglu after Tyler Boyd returned to the matchday squad after serving his suspension for a red card earlier in October.
Centre-back Sebastian Holmen has started every Super Lig game for Rizespor this season, and he will continue to do so on Friday, being partnered with Ay in the heart of defence.
Joel Pohjanpalo will lead the line for the hosts, and he will be looking to add to his two goals so far this season, which both came in the defeat against Galatasaray last month.
There are no selection concerns for Korkmaz ahead of this week's clash with Rizespor, meaning that he could name the same lineup to the team which started last time out.
Alanyaspor's front four has remained the same for their last seven outings and Davidson, Emre Akbaba, Efecan Karaca and Famara Diedhiou will all start again on Friday.
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Akkan; Sertel, Ay, Holmen, Baiano; Djokovic, Sabo; Umar, Boldrin, Bolasie; Pohjanpalo
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Kirintili; Bingol, Milunovic, Mevlja, Juanfran; Gunes, Aksoy; Davidson, Akbaba, Karaca; Diedhiou
We say: Caykur Rizespor 1-2 Alanyaspor
Alanyaspor are strong favourites for this encounter, and given their good form it is unlikely that the visitors will be travelling home with anything less than three points on Friday.
Rizespor could be in with a good chance of getting on the scoresheet this week as Alanyaspor have shown weaknesses defensively, but the away side should have enough quality in attack to cancel out any response from the hosts.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Alanyaspor win with a probability of 41.87%. A win for Caykur Rizespor had a probability of 32.26% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for an Alanyaspor win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.82%) and 0-2 (7.19%). The likeliest Caykur Rizespor win was 1-0 (8.57%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.29%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 5.3% likelihood.
