Off the back of contrasting results last time out, Besiktas and Antalyaspor face off at Vodafone Park on Sunday in their rescheduled fixture from round 14 of the 2022-23 Turkish Super Lig season.
The sides are separated by nine places and 15 points heading into this weekend's meeting, which promises to be an absorbing affair nonetheless.
Match preview
Besiktas were beaten for the first time in league action since November courtesy of a 1-0 loss against Sivasspor at the Yeni 4 Eylul Stadyumu three Saturdays ago.
Senol Gunes's men went behind to Samuel Saiz's wonderful opening goal midway through the first half and that turned out to be the all-important moment.
That defeat saw the Black Eagles spurn the opportunity to move up to third place in the Turkish Super Lig table, and they remain one point shy of the final European spot.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have secured just one victory in the most recent 10 meetings between the teams dating back to 2019.
Currently on a run of seven straight home wins across all competitions, Sunday's hosts are firing on all cylinders in front of their fans and will feel confident of getting the job done in this one.
Antalyaspor made it back to back wins on their own patch following a narrow 1-0 victory over Gaziantep at the Antalya Stadyumu on February 4.
Fredy's strike just shy of the half-hour mark was enough to get the job done for Nuri Sahin's men after they missed several chances to put the game to bed.
With 24 points picked up from their 21 matches, the Scorpions are 13th in the league standings, just two points clear of the drop zone, albeit with a game in hand.
Having scored the joint second-fewest number of goals away from home this term, Sunday's visitors will need to up the ante at the attacking end of the field to stand any chance of coming away with a positive outcome.
Team News
Besiktas' Arthur Masuaku was shown his fifth yellow card of the season last time out, and the 29-year-old will now serve a one-game ban this weekend.
This should see Umut Meras come into the lineup for what would be only a third starting appearance of the season for the Turkish international.
Despite failing to find the back of the net in any of his first four outings for the home side, January arrival Vincent Aboubakar is expected to retain his place in the XI.
Sam Larsson is unavailable for Antalyaspor through suspension having crossed the yellow-card threshold last time out, while Shoya Nakajima and Ufuk Akyol miss out due to muscle injuries.
Haji Wright has featured just two times since the turn of the year due to a leg injury, which will keep the attacker sidelined for Sunday's game.
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Meras, Saiss, Welinton, Rosier; Uysal, Bingol; N'Koudou, Tosun, Hadziahmetovic; Aboubakar
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Leite; Vural, Toprak, Sari, Balci; Fredy, Rakip, Fernando; Ndao, Sinik, Adriano
We say: Besiktas 3-1 Antalyaspor
Besiktas' recent home form and record in this fixture means that it is hard to envisage any other outcome than a win for them. While we expect Antalyaspor to put up a decent fight, we can see the hosts having far too much quality for their visitors and emerging triumphant in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
