It has been a tough couple of days for Galatasaray following their 3-1 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, but Okan Buruk's men have no time to wallow in the past and will be eager to forget the bad memories of midweek when they travel to Rize to take on Caykur Rizespor on Saturday night.
As far as the Super Lig is concerned, Galatasaray won the highly-anticipated Istanbul derby against Besiktas 2-1, while Caykur Rizespor go into this game after a 3-1 loss to Kayserispor
Match preview
© Reuters
Emotions will still be running high in Galatasaray's dressing room after their impressive performance against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
It was a game where the reigning Super Lig champions created plenty of scoring chances and could have easily walked away with a win over the Bundesliga side.
In fact, this was the first defeat in all competitions of the season for Galatasaray, but if we look at the Super Lig table, together with Fenerbahce, they are one of only two teams that are still unbeaten this season.
Galatasaray are currently second in the table, two points behind bitter local rivals Fenerbahce, with their only loss of points coming in a match against Kayserispor over two months ago.
Buruk's men are currently on an eight-game winning streak in which they have scored a total of 18 goals, scoring two or more in seven of the eight matches.
The only away match in which they did not score was a goalless draw away to Kayserispor, while they won the other four matches and kept a clean sheet in three of the four games.
With no European football at Caykur Rizespor's disposal this season, things were much quieter during the week and they will be fully focused on Sunday's big game against one of the Super Lig leaders.
Ilhan Palut's team go into this match on the back of a 3-1 away loss to Kayserispor, which followed a 1-0 win over Samsunspor just before the international break.
The team have shown a marked drop in performance in recent games, winning just one of their last four matches and conceding a total of nine goals.
Even though the hosts welcome a wounded beast to town, their home record this season suggests they will not be so easy to crack, as they are still unbeaten in four games on home soil and have conceded just one goal so far.
Team News
© Reuters
Although the Champions League match against Bayern Munich in midweek was very intense and physical, Galatasaray will go into Sunday's match injury-free.
However, playing with such intensity definitely affected the physical condition of some players, so it is very likely that coach Buruk will make some changes.
Baris Alper Yilmaz is one of the options for the right wing for Galatasaray instead of Tete, while Hakim Ziyech is likely to come in for Wilfried Zaha.
In addition, Spanish left-back Angelino could provide a breath of fresh air on the left in place of Kazimcan Karatas.
Mauro Icardi, meanwhile, is looking unstoppable at this stage of the season, having scored at least one goal in six of his last seven games in all competitions.
Caykur Rizespor, on the other hand, do not have such a wealth of talent and have limited options to rotate, so expect a similar starting XI as against Kayserispor.
Midfielder Oscar Pinchi is currently out of action with an ankle injury and will not return until early November at the earliest, while Mithat Pala has served his suspension and should be back in the starting XI.
Benhur Keser is the team's top scorer with three goals and can pose the biggest threat to Galatasaray's back line.
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Akkan; Sahin, Mocsi, Topcu, Pehlivan; Olawoyin, Shelvey, Keser, Sauer, Varesanovic; Gaich
Galatasaray possible starting lineup:
Muslera; Boey, Sanchez, Bardakci, Angelino; Ayhan, Torreira, Yilmaz, Ziyech, Akturkoglu; Icardi
We say: Caykur Rizespor 1-2 Galatasaray
Despite the fact that Galatasaray had a very difficult and physically draining game in the Champions League in midweek, they simply have too much quality in all areas of the pitch for Caykur Rizespor to handle.
The hosts will hope to keep Galatasaray's main attacking weapons quiet, which they can do given their defensive home record this season, but the task will be incredibly difficult.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
