Two sides fighting at opposite ends of the Turkish Super Lig table will meet on their return to action on Thursday, when Besiktas entertain Alanyaspor.
Following a disappointing start to the term, the title-chasing hosts sit fifth with a three-point gap to the top three, while their visitors find themselves 18th but only inside the relegation zone on goal difference.
Match preview
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Besiktas will return to Istanbul on Thursday with the aim of kickstarting a turnaround in their campaign, having endured a disappointing start to their bid to regain the Turkish Super Lig title for the first time since 2021.
After 15 rounds of games, the Black Eagles already find themselves 14 points behind rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, having picked up eight victories thus far while suffering five defeats, including a harmful loss to the latter in their last league outing.
Following a disappointing draw away at Ankaragucu, Riza Calimbay's side hosted Fenerbahce earlier in December and fell further behind the top two, eventually succumbing to a 3-1 defeat, despite drawing level through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half, as Dusan Tadic restored the visitors' lead around the hour mark before Sebastian Szymanski added a third deep into injury time.
Then following on from the suspension of Super Lig action last weekend due to the assault of a referee, Besiktas now return to action having most recently prevailed in their final Europa Conference League group game last Thursday to no avail, winning 2-0 away at Lugano thanks to goals from Cenk Tosun and Emrecan Terzi having already bowed out of the competition as they earned just a single point from the first five outings.
Now with their focus fully on salvaging the Super Lig campaign, Calimbay's men will be desperate to begin a run of victories on Thursday with little more room for error if they are to stand a chance of keeping pace at the top of the division heading into the second half of the term.
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They meet an Alanyaspor side who arrive in search of back-to-back league wins for the first time this season, having endured a tough start to their own campaign in their bid to again maintain their top-flight status.
Although the visitors enjoyed a winning start to the 2023-24 term, they would then manage just one more three-point haul from the next 13 attempts, with that second triumph coming in early October, only to be followed by five Super Lig defeats on the bounce, as they conceded 11 goals along the way while only scoring once.
That dismal run, culminating in a 5-0 thrashing away at Galatasaray at the end of November, left the Antalya Province side, under the management of Fatih Tekke since the beginning of last month, in a concerning position with just 10 points on the board from 13 games, but they have, at least, arrested the slump in recent weeks, firstly ending the five-match losing run with a 2-2 draw at home to Konyaspor at the start of the month, having gone ahead on two occasions through Sergio Cordova and Joao Novais.
Then on the back of a 1-0 Turkish Cup fourth-round triumph over Kocaelispor, Tekke's side most recently travelled to take on fellow strugglers Istanbulspor and made a crucial return to winning ways on the league front with another 1-0 victory, as the game looked set to end goalless until they won an 89th-minute penalty which Novais converted to ensure they left with all three points.
Such a result saw Alanyaspor leapfrog Pendikspor and move into 18th spot in Turkey's top flight, and now returning to action after the suspension of the league's games at the weekend due to the attack of a referee, they find themselves just a point adrift of safety and will aim to pull off a major upset in the capital with the chance to jump out the bottom four.
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Team News
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Besiktas will remain without Vincent Aboubakar, who leads the squad's scoring charts with 11 goals so far this term, Eric Bailly, Rachid Ghezzal and Jean Onana on Thursday, after the quartet were suspended by the club following their defeat to Fenerbahce, with the hierarchy citing poor performances.
In the absence of the Cameroon international, Cenk Tosun will again lead the line after he netted his fifth goal of the season in their win away at Lugano last time out, while Ante Rebic will hope to return in support of the front man with Jackson Muleka bound to keep his place on the right wing.
Elsewhere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will continue to play a key role in midfield, with his red card against Lugano not impacting his Super Lig availability, while Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov and Daniel Amartey should again partner up in defence in Bailly's absence.
Alanyaspor should come into Thursday's trip with an unchanged starting XI from their 1-0 win away at Istanbulspor last time out in a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Nuno Lima and Fidan Aliti bound to continue in the middle of a back four after seeing out a clean sheet in that game.
Joao Novais leads their scoring charts with five goals in 15 league games so far this term, and he will continue to play a key role in the midfield, with Richard again set to join him.
Further forward, Sergio Cordova will continue to lead the line, while Pione Sisto, Efecan Karaca and Oguz Aydin will all hope to keep their places in a supporting trio.
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Destanoglu; Bulut, Amartey, Zaynutdinov, Terzi; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ucan, Fernandes; Muleka, Toosun, Rebic
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Augusto, Lima, Aliti, Ozdemir; Richard, Novais; Sisto, Karaca, Aydin; Cordova
We say: Besiktas 2-1 Alanyaspor
Besiktas are certainly not at their best at present, and they meet an Alanyaspor side with renewed confidence on the back of a crucial return to winning ways last time out.
Nonetheless, the Black Eagles still have the quality in their squad to get over the line on home turf, and with their position at the top end of the table quickly getting less favourable, we back them to scrape through in Istanbul.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Sam Varley
