Adana Demirspor will be aiming to keep their quest for European football on track when they welcome Altay to the New Adana Stadium on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, find themselves seven points adrift of safety and with just seven matches left to play, they require a burst of wins if they are to remain in the Super Lig.
Match preview
The hosts are homing in on a top-four spot with three points separating them from Alanyaspor, who sit in fourth position.
Despite the home side occupying sixth position, Vincenzo Montella will be hoping that his side can experience an upturn in form after winning just one of their last five matches.
In their last home outing, they edged out Adana Demirspor to end a three-game winless run before they played out a goalless away draw with Hatayspor in their most recent fixture.
Adana Demirspor return to home surroundings this weekend, and one defeat in their last 10 home league games suggests that Altay may be in for a tough encounter.
The hosts also have the chance to complete a league double over their opponents after claiming a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture.
While their opponents are hunting down a European qualification spot, Altay are battling to remain in the top flight and with seven points separating them from safety, the signs are not positive.
Sunday's visitors may be heading for an immediate return to the second tier, but a win at the weekend could spark a great escape.
A three-game unbeaten run seemed to be laying the foundations for a survival bid, but back-to-back defeats have left Altay's hopes of remaining in the Super Lig hanging by a thread.
Last weekend, Antalyaspor left the Alsancak Mustafa Denizli Stadium with all three points with goals from Luiz Adriano and Haji Wright condemning Altay to a 2-1 defeat despite Ahmed Yasser Rayan netting for the hosts.
Altay will now be aiming to bounce back with a win on Sunday, but having won just three away league games this season, their task is a tricky one.
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Team News
Yunus Akgun will return to the Adana Demirspor side on Sunday after serving a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Montella could make a change at left-back, with Alper Uludag set to come back into the starting lineup.
Mario Balotelli, meanwhile, will retain his place in the forward line after returning to the side for the meeting with Hatayspor.
As for Altay, they are still without Deniz Kadah who has missed the last three games through injury.
They are also missing Thaciano and Ahmed Yasser Rayan, who are both suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
The pair's suspension will present Ceyhun Gulselam and Leandro Kappel with starting opportunities.
Adana Demirspor possible starting lineup:
Muric; Svensson, Akaydin, Sanuc, Uludag; Inler, Stambouli; Akgun, Bjarnason, Vargas; Balotelli
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Karayel, Ozturk, Akca, Naderi; Kappel, Poko, Gulselam, Pinares, Rodriguez; Bamba
We say: Adana Demirspor 2-1 Altay
Altay tend to struggle on their travels, whereas Adana Demirspor are particularly strong at the New Adana Stadium, and we think that the hosts will utilise home advantage to claim back-to-back home victories.
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 Adana Demirspor win with a probability of 63.89%. A draw had a probability of 21.3% and a win for Altay had a probability of 14.86%.
The most likely scoreline for an Adana Demirspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.6%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.14%) and 2-1 (9.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.09%), while for an Altay win it was 0-1 (5.24%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 6.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Adana Demirspor would win this match.
