Unbeaten in nine consecutive Super Lig outings, Istanbul Basaksehir will be seeking to pick up their seventh home win in eight games at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium when they take on Giresunspor on Tuesday.
This will be the first-ever league meeting between the two sides and the visitors will aim to begin their rivalry on a winning note and move into the top half of the Super Lig table.
Match preview
Istanbul Basaksehir were denied their third Super Lig win on the spin last Saturday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by a dogged Galatasaray side.
In an action-packed contest at the Nef Stadyumu, Stefano Okaka broke the deadlock in the 20th minute to hand the visitors a first-half lead before Mostafa Mohamed restored parity with three minutes remaining in the game.
Prior to that, Erdinc Sozer's men saw their Turkiye Kupasi campaign come to an end when they lost on penalties to lower-tier Bodrumspor on November 30 before claiming successive league wins over Hatayspor and Kasimpasa.
Istanbul Basaksehir head into Tuesday's game unbeaten in nine league games, claiming seven wins and two draws since a 3-1 loss against Fatih Karagumruk back in October.
This blistering run of results has seen the Gray Owls rise to third place in the Super Lig standings, after claiming 29 points from 17 games.
Giresunspor, on the other hand, can feel somewhat delighted by their performance in the first half of the season as they have picked up 22 points from their opening 17 games.
The newly-promoted side are currently 12th on the log, two and three points behind Galatasaray and Besiktas respectively, and could leapfrog both Turkish giants and move into ninth place with a win on Tuesday.
After seeing their winning streak come to an end courtesy of a 1-0 loss to Adana Demirspor on December 12, Giresunspor returned to winning ways in style as they comfortably saw off Altay 3-1 at the Cotanak Spor Kompleksi last Friday.
Hakan Keles's side have now won five of their last six games across all competitions, including a 4-2 win over Ankara Demirspor on December 2 which saw them progress into the fifth round of the Turkish cup.
While they will look to keep this solid run going, next up is the stern test of taking on a solid Istanbul Basaksehir side at home, where they have not lost a game since August's 1-0 defeat at the hands of Kayserispor.
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Team News
Istanbul Basaksehir will take to this one without the services of AC Milan loanee Leo Duarte after the Brazilian defender received his marching orders in the game against Galatasaray last time out.
Veteran defender Hasan Ali Kaldirim is also a doubt for the hosts after the 32-year-old hobbled off the pitch with a 75th-minute injury in the aforementioned game.
Should he fail to shrug it off in time, his replacement Lucas Lima could come into the XI on Tuesday for what would be his first start in nine games across all competitions.
Meanwhile, Giresunspor will be without 25-year-old midfielder Erol Akdag, who has been out of action since picking up an injury against Ankara Demirspor on December 2.
He is joined on the club's injury table by Brazilian defender Douglas, who came off with a foot problem in November's game against Sivasspor.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Sengezer; Sahiner, Epureanu, Ndayishimiye, Lima; Turuc, Tekdemir, Ozcan; Visca, Okaka, Chadli
Giresunspor possible starting lineup:
Kocuk; Yavru, Diarra, Perez, Behich; Flavio, Traore, Diabate; Suleymanov, Serginho, Balde
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 Giresunspor
While Istanbul Basaksehir are clear favourites heading into Tuesday's game, we expect an in-form Giresunspor side to put up a valiant fight. However, the hosts are in the upper echelons of the table for a reason and we predict they will continue their fine home run and come away with all three points.
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 Istanbul Basaksehir win with a probability of 62.74%. A draw had a probability of 20.9% and a win for Giresunspor had a probability of 16.37%.
The most likely scoreline for a Istanbul Basaksehir win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.88%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.88%) and 2-1 (9.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.91%), while for a Giresunspor win it was 0-1 (4.95%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Istanbul Basaksehir would win this match.
