Fatih Karagumruk will be aiming to clinch a third consecutive Super Lig victory when they play host to Altay on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, enter the weekend in the relegation zone with four points separating them from safety.
Match preview
Ninth-placed Fatih Karagumruk have impressed in recent weeks, winning three of their previous four league matches, including a 2-1 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir last weekend.
Despite falling behind in the 25th minute, Fatih Karagumruk would take a lead into half time following strikes from Fabio Borini and Ahmed Musa.
Those efforts proved enough to claim all three points with no goals materialising in the second period, and consecutive victories meant that Volkan Demirel's side carried momentum into their Turkish Cup quarter final away to Sivasspor in midweek.
However, the visitors fell just short with a second-half strike from Mustafa Yatabare ensuring that Fatih Karagumruk would play no further part in this season's cup competition.
The hosts will be looking to bounce back on Sunday, and they will be confident of doing so after losing just one of their previous seven home games in all competitions.
Despite sitting four points adrift of safety, Altay have lost just once in their previous four matches, and they emerged victorious from a five-goal thriller last weekend.
Serkan Ozbalta's side played host to Gaziantep, and they hit the front in the 10th minute thanks to Thaciano's opener, but the visitors needed just eight minutes to hit back courtesy of Alexandru Maxim's spot kick.
An exciting first half would still yield two more goals though, as a Gunay Guvenc own goal restored Altay's lead before Maxim struck once again, but the hosts would claim all three points, with Andre Biyogo Poko's strike proving to be the winner.
Despite prevailing last weekend, Altay will be pessimistic about their chances on Sunday after winning just once in their last 12 away matches in all competitions.
Goals have also been hard to come by in recent away trips, with Sunday's visitors failing to score in four of their previous six competitive away games.
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
- W
Team News
The hosts are missing a few players due to injury issues, with Ervin Zukanovic, Vato Arveladze and Rayyan Baniya all expected to be ruled out.
Borini was withdrawn in midweek after picking up an injury, and he is likely to be sidelined for Sunday's contest.
After coming into the starting lineup for the cup quarter final, Davide Biraschi is expected to keep his place in the Fatih Karagumruk backline.
As for the visitors, they have no fresh injury concerns ahead of Sunday's encounter.
Murat Akca returned from suspension to start in the victory over Gaziantep and the 31-year-old will partner Eric Bjorkander in the centre of defence.
Despite top scoring for Altay in the league this term, Daouda Karamoko Bamba is expected to remain on the bench.
Fatih Karagumruk possible starting lineup:
Viviano; Dursun, Biraschi, Bekaroglu, Erkin; Toure, Biglia; Durmaz, Bistrovic, Borini; Musa
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Karayel, Bjorkander, Akca, Naderi; Kappel, Pinares, Thaciano, Poko, Rodriguez; Kadah
We say: Fatih Karagumruk 1-0 Altay
Fatih Karagumruk are aiming to do the league double over the visitors after winning narrowly in October and with the hosts aiming for a third consecutive league victory, we think that they will clinch another win in a cagey contest.
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 Fatih Karagumruk win with a probability of 59.79%. A draw had a probability of 21.8% and a win for Altay had a probability of 18.38%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fatih Karagumruk win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.77%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.33%) and 2-1 (9.93%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.34%), while for an Altay win it was 0-1 (5.39%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood.
