Eighth will meet seventh in the Super Lig this weekend when Fatih Karagumruk travel to Hatayspor looking to leapfrog their opponents.
European football remains an outside shot for both sides, with three points likely to boost the pair's continental chances.
Match preview
Enjoying their football as of late, Karagumruk head into their Super Lig clash with Hatayspor having won three of their last five league matches.
A rare spell of consistency in their season, the Black-Red have endured a bumpy campaign at times, but appear to be on the up.
Chasing a European position, Karagumruk will have to post an almost perfect end to the season if they are to leapfrog the sides above them.
One of those teams includes Saturday's opponents, with Hatayspor also eyeing up a place in Europe next season.
Sitting just one place and three points above Karagumruk, avoiding defeat will be paramount if they wish to achieve their European dream.
Hoping to bridge the gap between themselves and the top five, Hatayspor will be keen to end a run of just two wins in their last seven league outings.
Saturday's clash is perhaps the worst possible place to start for Hatayspor, given their woeful record over Karagumruk – the hosts have taken three points just once in their last five meetings.
Similarly, Karagumruk's head-to-head record does not make for much better reading as the visitors too have won just once since 2019.
- D
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
Team News
It is likely that Hatayspor will have to do some juggling about on Saturday afternoon, with two players suspended for the clash.
Fatih Kurucuk is in the midst of a three-game suspension, whereas defender Kamil Ahmet Corekci is missing for just one game.
Elsewhere, Adama Traore is also missing for Hatayspor, with the midfielder missing due to injury.
Like their hosts, Karagumruk are also without a number of first-team regulars, most notably Aleksandar Pesic, who has netted 13 times this season but is out with injury.
Ervin Zukanovic is out with a muscle problem, while Vato Arveladze and Rayyan Baniya are doubts for the visit.
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Munir; Bas, Sackey, Oksuz, Adekugbe; Ergun, Boudjemaa; El Kaabi, Ribeiro, Lobzhanidze; Diouf
Fatih Karagumruk possible starting lineup:
Viviano; Dursun, Biraschi, Balkovec, Erkin; Biglia, Bistrovic, Mercan; Mor, Musa, Durmaz
We say: Hatayspor 1-1 Fatih Karagumruk
Evenly matched in the table, it is hard to see where the upper hand may come from for either side.
For that reason, expect a tight affair with no team able to take home 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 Hatayspor win with a probability of 58.81%. A draw had a probability of 22% and a win for Fatih Karagumruk had a probability of 19.23%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hatayspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.39%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.96%) and 2-1 (9.94%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.37%), while for a Fatih Karagumruk win it was 0-1 (5.42%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 6.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hatayspor would win this match.
