The 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig begins on Friday, with Trabzonspor hosting Antalyaspor at Senol Gunes Spor Kompleksi Papara Park.
Both sides had contrasting pre-seasons, with the Trabzon outfit looking sharper than the visiting side if those tune-up games are anything to go by.
Match preview
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Trabzonspor comfortably finished in the league's top half last season, but the Black Sea Storm were nowhere near ending in the continental spots.
Despite ending sixth, the club from Trabzon were 12 points shy of Adana Demirspor in the standings, seeing the 2021-22 champions not only meekly surrender their league title but fail to make European football this season.
Nenad Bjelica only took over in mid-April amid a run of one win from seven in all competitions before a late-season upswing saw them claim four victories in their last six league games.
Pre-season was promising for the Burgundy Blues, who recovered from a 2-0 loss against Hajduk Split to go unbeaten in five of the subsequent six encounters, losing only to AEK Athens at the end of July.
The 5-0 triumph over 1461 Trabzon FK in their final preparatory game puts Trabzonspor in good stead to start the new season positively, especially as they seek to continue their unbeaten home league run under Bjelica — they claimed three wins and a draw in four games at Papara Park at the backend of last season.
Antalyaspor will hope to put paid to Trabzonspor's four-game sequence without losing a home game under Bjelica, even if their off-season results suggest a different outcome.
After wins over Istanbul Basaksehir and Alanyaspor to begin the pre-season, Nuri Sahin's troops failed to pick up another victory in five games.
Notable in that run was an inability to score consistently, evidenced by firing blanks against Rizespor and Sivasspor before finding the back of the net once each in matches against Pendikspor, Istanbulspor and Hatayspor.
The goalscoring issue predates the off-season, with the Scorpions among the league's lowest scorers in 2022-23, with Sahin's troops outscoring only relegated Giresunspor (42), Ankaragucu (43) and Kasimpasa (45).
They had one of the league's worst road records in the competition, accruing one point more than the worst away sides in the division — Alanyaspor — possibly diminishing their chances of winning on Friday, even if Sahin's side would look to prove that outcomes may not follow last season's pattern.
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Team News
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Mislav Orsic suffered a cruciate ligament rupture shortly after joining Trabzonspor on loan from Southampton, and the Croatian is expected to be injured until the New Year.
Joaquin Fernandez, Huseyin Turkmen, Manolis Siopis and Emirhan Zaman have injuries that could keep them out of Friday's season opener, with Filip Benkovic also doubtful.
Mahmoud Trezeguet, Edin Visca and Eren Elmali were in fine form against 1461 Trabzon FK and could all start on Friday.
New free transfer arrival Britt Assombalonga only just joined Antalyaspor and is unlikely to play from the off this weekend.
However, the quartet of Zymer Bytyqi, Jakub Kaluzinski, Adam Buksa and Gerrit Holtmann could make their debuts for the Scorpions in gameweek one.
Trabzonspor possible starting lineup:
Cakir; Larsen, Yilmaz, Denswil, Elmali; Kourbelis, Bakasetas, Baedhi; Trezeguet, Gomez, Visca
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Leite; Balci, Toprak, Sari, Vural; Rakip, Kaluzinski; Holtmann, Ribeiro, Bytyqi; Buksa
We say: Trabzonspor 3-1 Antalyaspor
While pre-season form could be misleading, Trabzonspor should continue their unbeaten record at Papara Park under Bjelica, with a comfortable victory over Antalyaspor on the cards.
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