Hatayspor's relegation fight goes down to the wire as they take on Caykur Rizespor at the Mersin Stadium in the final matchday of the 2023-24 Super Lig campaign on Sunday.
While the Star of the South currently sit in the third relegation spot, they head into the season finale two points away from safety and will be looking to pick up a potentially season-salvaging victory.
Match preview
Hatayspor were left with a bitter taste of "what could have been" last Saturday when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Besiktas at the Tupras Stadium after giving up their lead in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Chandrel Massanga and Oluwafisayo Dele-Bashiru scored either side of Gedson Fernandes's 50th-minute equaliser to set the visitors on their way to arguably their biggest and most important win of the campaign but Vincent Aboubakar scored from the spot in the 97th minute to force a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, Hatayspor snapped their four-game losing streak on May 5 when they fought back from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw against Gaziantep, one week before securing a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Ankaragucu in a bottom-of-the-table clash.
Ozhan Pulat's men have now picked up five points from their last three matches, while scoring five goals and conceding four, having managed just five points in their previous 10 outings preceding this run.
With 38 points from 37 matches, Hatayspor are currently 17th in the Super Lig table, one point above 19th-placed Pendikspor but could move level with 14th-placed Gaziantep with all three points this weekend.
Caykur Rizespor, on the other hand, failed to arrest their poor late-season form as they were held to a goalless draw with Kasimpasa when the sides squared off at the Caykur Didi Stadium.
In an action-packed contest, a combined 26 shots were fired in the game but neither goalkeeper would end up picking the ball out of the back of the net, with a draw being a fair result upon reflection.
Since thrashing Antalyaspor 3-0 on April 14, Rizespor have now failed to taste victory in five consecutive matches, losing three and claiming two draws while scoring five goals and conceding nine goals in that time.
Despite their underwhelming end to the campaign, Ilhan Palut will be impressed with his side's performance this season as they are guaranteed a top-half finish for the first time since 2004-05.
The Black Sea Sparrowhawk have picked up 14 wins and eight draws from their 37 Super Lig matches to sit ninth in the league table and could finish as high as sixth place with a win on Sunday.
However, Rizespor will need to be at their best at the Mersin Stadium as they have lost nine of their 10 away matches across all competitions in 2024 and hold the division's fourth-poorest point tally on the road heading into the season finale (12).
Team News
Hatayspor will take to the pitch without the services of Rui Pedro and Joelson Fernandes, who are suspended after crossing the yellow card threshold with their bookings against Besiktas last weekend.
On the injury front, Pulat will be unable to name Serbian defender Nikola Maksimovic, who has missed each of the last three matches through a muscle problem.
As for Caykur Rizespor, the trio of Gustavo Sauer, David Akintola and 23-year-old forward Altin Zeqiri are currently suspended and will be forced to sit out Sunday's season finale.
Twenty-seven-year-old Benhur Keser and fellow striker Efe Tecimer are recuperating from foot and knee injuries respectively and are out of contention for the Black Sea Sparrowhawk.
Finish midfielder Janne-Pekka Laine had been out of action since defender and the 23-year-old will also play no part in this weekend's matchup.
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Bekaj; Corekci, Kilama, Sertel, Yilmaz; Matondo; Dervisoglu; Dele-Bashiru, Boudjemaa, Beyaz; Strandberg
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Cetin; Sahin, Mocsi, Yasar, Nielsen; Shelvey, Sarikaya; Faye, Olawoyin, Varesanovic; Gaich
We say: Hatayspor 2-1 Caykur Rizespor
With their season potentially hinging on the outcome of Sunday's clash, we expect Hatayspor to throw in the kitchen sink in search of all three points. We predict that Pulat's men will take the positives from their draw at Besiktas and come away with a narrow victory in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
