One of the standout fixtures in Turkish football will take place in Istanbul on Monday evening, as Besiktas welcome Galatasaray to Vodafone Park.
Besiktas have collected 17 points from their first nine matches of the Super Lig season to sit fourth in the table, while Galatasaray are sixth with the same number of points as their opponents here.
Match preview
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Besiktas are competing in the group stage of the Champions League this season, but they have struggled to impress in Group C, losing to both Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Sporting Lisbon to sit bottom of the group.
The Turkish outfit will enter this match off the back of a 4-1 home loss to Sporting, and they have actually now been beaten in four of their last five games in all competitions, including league losses to Altay and Istanbul Basaksehir.
While impressing in the European Cup is seen as vitally important, the league remains the priority for the Istanbul giants, who won the Super Lig for the 16th time in their history last season.
Besiktas have won five, drawn two and lost two of their opening nine matches of the campaign to collect 17 points, which has left them in fourth spot in the table, four points behind leaders Trabzonspor.
In total, the Black Eagles have faced Galatasaray on 126 occasions in the Super Lig, and Galatasaray lead the head-to-head record 46 wins to 37, but Besiktas recorded a 2-0 victory when the two teams locked horns in the corresponding match during the 2020-21 campaign.
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Galatasaray, meanwhile, are competing in the group stage of the Europa League this season, and they will enter this match off the back of a 1-0 victory over Lokomotiv Moscow on Thursday night.
A record of seven points from three matches has left the Istanbul club top of Group E and well on course to reach the knockout stage of the competition.
Fatih Terim's side have also been victorious in their last three league games, beating Goztepe, Rizespor and Konyaspor since suffering a 3-0 defeat to Kayserispor towards the end of September.
Galatasaray are currently sixth in the Super Lig table but are level on points with fourth-placed Besiktas and just four points behind leaders Trabzonspor, and it is shaping up to be another fascinating campaign.
Terim's team actually had an identical record to Besiktas in the Super Lig last term - picking up 84 points from 40 matches - only missing out on the title due to their inferior head-to-head record.
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Team News
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Besiktas will be without the services of Mehmet Topal, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Atiba Hutchinson for Monday's contest through injury.
There are not expected to be any real surprises in the home side's XI for this match, with Michy Batshuayi leading the line in a 4-5-1 formation.
Miralem Pjanic is set to continue in the middle of the park, but there could also be a spot for Salih Ucan, with Alex Teixeira and Rachid Ghezzal operating in the wide areas.
Galatasaray, meanwhile, will again be missing Arda Turan and Sacha Boey through injury, but Marcao has served a suspension and should return to the starting side here.
Mostafa Mohamed will lead the line for the visitors, but there could be a couple of alterations from the side that started against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Europa League on Thursday.
Kerem Akturkoglu came off the bench to score the winner in Moscow, and the attacker could now feature in the starting side, while Olimpiu Morutan is also pushing to be involved from the start.
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Destanoglu; Rosier, Montero, Vida, Yilmaz; Ghezzal, Pjanic, Josef, Ucan, Teixeira; Batshuayi
Galatasaray possible starting lineup:
Muslera; Yedlin, Marcao, Nelsson, Van Aanholt; Cicaldau, Kutlu; Dervisoglu, Morutan, Akturkoglu; Mohamed
We say: Besiktas 1-1 Galatasaray
There is simply no downplaying the importance of this match, even this early in the season. It is set to be a fascinating battle between two of the biggest clubs in Turkish football, and we are predicting a draw, which both managers would probably accept if it were offered ahead of kickoff.
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 Besiktas win with a probability of 39.54%. A win for Galatasaray had a probability of 35.23% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Besiktas win was 1-0 with a probability of 8.78%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.62%) and 2-0 (6.37%). The likeliest Galatasaray win was 0-1 (8.21%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.89%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Besiktas would win this match.
