Istanbul Basaksehir and Hatayspor will do battle at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium on Sunday afternoon in round 15 of the 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig season.
Both teams emerged victorious in their last outings and will be looking to pick up where they left off by securing all three points this weekend.
Match preview
Istanbul Basaksehir breezed through into the next round of the Turkish Cup thanks to a 2-0 victory over lower league side Sanliurfaspor on Thursday.
Cagdas Atan's men opened the scoring just past the half-hour mark through Dimitrios Pelkas after which Emirhan Ilkhan sealed the deal 18 minutes from time.
Prior to that, the Orange-Navy Blues were on the receiving end of a 3-2 defeat against Rizespor, which left them 17th in the Turkish Super Lig table.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are without a win from the most recent five editions of this fixture across all competitions.
Having come out on top in each of their last two matches on home turf by a combined score of 6-1, Sunday's hosts will back themselves to secure maximum points in front of their fans.
Hatayspor just about did enough to see off the threat of Duzcespor in Wednesday's Turkish Cup knockout tie at the Mersin Stadyumu which ended 2-1.
Volkan Demirel's men got their noses in front through Armin Hodzic but were soon pegged back by Yakup Zorlu before Hodzic grabbed the winner in the 58th minute.
This came off the back of a thrilling 3-3 share of the spoils against Antalyaspor for Guneyin Yildizi, who occupy 10th place in the standings.
Currently on a run of three straight defeats on the road, Sunday's visitors will be keen to turn their away fortunes around on their trip to the capital.
Team News
Muhammed Sengezer is still out of contention for Istanbul Basaksehir through a muscle injury, while Efe Koyuncu misses out due to a knock.
The home side will also be without the services of forward Patryk Szysz, who is yet to feature since early May due to a long-term knee problem.
Frenchman Mehdi Boudjemaa is unavailable for Hatayspor as he continues to nurse a muscle problem which he picked up while on loan at Ferencvaros.
Thirty-one-year-old Kamil Corekci is still a considerable way off making his return to action for the visitors from a knee injury which has seen him miss six straight matches.
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Lima, Opoku, Duarte, Dubois; Ozcan, Ilkhan, Abeid; Brandao, Piatek, Turuc
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Kardesler; Ghoulam, Demir, Kilama, Alici; Matondo, Beyaz, Dele-Bashiru; Rivas, Lamkel, Strandberg
We say: Istanbul Basaksehir 2-1 Hatayspor
Basaksehir and Hatayspor boast similar defensive records heading into this one, but the former have had the upper hand offensively. We are backing them to come away with the win, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
