Altay will look to put an end to a three-game losing run in the Turkish top flight on Saturday, when they play host to Sivasspor.
A dip in form has seen the home side drop to ninth spot in the Turkish Super Lig table, while their visitors now sit down in 14th place after a winless run of their own.
Match preview
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After winning promotion from the second tier last season, Altay had an eye-catching start to the new campaign in the top flight, winning two of their first four games before putting a run of three straight victories together to climb up to the top end of the table.
Mustafa Denizli's side recorded consecutive 2-1 wins over Goztepe SK and Caykur Rizespor, before defeating defending champions Besiktas by the same scoreline, thanks to an 88th-minute Daouda Bamba winner after Leandro Kappel had drawn them level on the hour mark.
That surprise victory saw Buruk Altay move up to third spot with 15 points from the opening seven games, but they have since lost three consecutive league matches to drop back down the table.
Denizli's side were first defeated 4-1 by Gaziantep, before falling to narrow 1-0 and 2-1 defeats to Faith Karagumruk and Yeni Malatyaspor respectively in recent weeks, seeing them fall to ninth spot as a result.
They now head into Saturday looking to build on a positive cup performance though, as they bounced back from the defeats with a 5-1 thrashing of Belediye Derincespor on Tuesday, thanks to an Ahmed Yasser Rayan brace and goals from Deniz Kadah, Marco Paixao and Khaly Thiam.
In their bid to get back to winning ways in the league, Buruk Altay meet a Sivasspor side who will hope to kickstart their campaign after an underwhelming start.
After finishing fifth in the top flight last term, the visitors failed to win any of their first six games of the new campaign before picking up a vital 1-0 victory over Yeni Malatyaspor and thrashing Faith Karagumruk 4-0 thanks to goals from Olarenwaju Kayode, Dimitris Goutas, Jorge Felix and Max Gradel.
They were unable to turn that into a consistent winning run though, as a 2-1 defeat to Besiktas followed, before they drew consecutive games heading into Saturday's trip.
After a 2-2 draw with Antalyaspor, Riza Calimbay's side were held in the dying minutes by Adana Demirspor last time out.
The Yigidos took an early lead through Gradel, and they looked set to see out a 1-0 win despite playing with 10 men, only for the visitors to win a 97th-minute penalty, which Mario Balotelli converted to force a share of the spoils.
They will now look to arrest their slump and build a more positive run to quickly climb the league table.
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Team News
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The Altay line will again be led by Daouda Bamba, who has netted five goals in 10 appearances in the Turkish top flight so far this season.
Ahmed Yasser Rayan will hope to join him after scoring a brace in the cup win on Tuesday.
Experienced centre-back Murat Akca should continue to miss out through injury, having picked up a knock after starting the first nine league games of the season, with Denizli expected to again field a back three to make up for his absence.
Sivasspor will come into the game without winger Pedro Henrique, who will serve a suspension after he was shown a red card in the draw with Adana Demirspor last time out.
Experienced winger Max Gradel has shone in the final third in recent weeks, contributing two goals and two assists in the last four games, and Calimbay will hope that he can continue his fine form.
He will be joined in the attacking line by Shakhtar Donetsk loanee Olarenwaju Kayode, who has netted four goals so far this season in all competitions.
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Bjorkander, Gulselam, Thiam; Karayel, Poko, Yildrim, Naderi; Kappel; Rayan, Bamba
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Vural; Yesilyurt, Goutas, Osmanpasa, Cifti; Arslan, Cofie, Ulvestad; Gradel, Yatabare, Kayode
We say: Altay 1-1 Sivasspor
This should certainly be an intriguing clash between two sides keen to correct their league form, and we cannot quite pick a winner.
While Sivasspor arguably boast more top-flight quality, they have been uninspiring this season, while the hosts will be boosted by a resounding cup win in midweek, and we predict a share of the spoils on Saturday.
Top tip
Sam Varley
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 Altay win with a probability of 45.29%. A win for Sivasspor had a probability of 30.36% and a draw had a probability of 24.3%.
The most likely scoreline for an Altay win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.23%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.85%) and 2-0 (7.18%). The likeliest Sivasspor win was 1-2 (7.32%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.38%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.4% likelihood.
