Turkish giants Galatasaray will be looking to claim their fourth successive home victory across all competitions when they host Alanyaspor in the Super Lig on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be hoping to improve on their last away performance in the top flight, after suffering a 5-0 defeat against Hatayspor.
Match preview
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Galatasaray extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine matches when they claimed an impressive 1-0 victory at home against Lazio in their opening Europa League game on Thursday night.
After a goalless first half, Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha made an extraordinary mistake in the 66th minute when he palmed the ball into his own net with no pressure around him, an error which handed the Turkish giants all three points.
Fatih Terim has not seen his team lose for a while but they have been conceding too many goals for his liking, having kept just one clean sheet in their opening 10 matches across all competitions prior to Thursday's narrow victory.
The 22-time Super Lig champions, who have failed to win the title in each of the last two seasons, have made a solid start to the new domestic campaign, winning their first two matches against Giresunspor and Hatayspor, before claiming successive 2-2 draws against Kasimpasa and Trabzonspor.
Galatasaray lost their home fixture against Alanyaspor last season, suffering a 2-1 defeat in October 2020, so they will be seeking revenge this weekend as they aim to return to winning ways in the Turkish top flight.
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Alanyaspor claimed their second win of the new season last weekend, when they beat Giresunspor 1-0 on home soil.
Centre-back Chidozie Awaziem scored his first goal since October 2017 in the eighth minute, which proved to be the winning goal for Bulent Korkmaz's side.
That result has seen the Orange and Greens climb up to 11th place in the Super Lig, four points clear of the relegation zone.
Alanyaspor, who were eliminated in Europa League qualifying by Rosenborg earlier this campaign, will be looking to better last season's seventh-place finish in the Turkish top flight and push for a European spot once again.
Korkmaz's side will be up against it when they face Galatasaray at the Turk Telekom Arena, but after winning there last season, they should be confident of claiming another three points on Sunday.
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Team News
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Galatasaray centre-back Marcao, who played against Lazio, is ruled out this weekend as he serving an eight-game domestic ban for his violent actions towards teammate Kerem Akturkoglu.
The hosts will also be without Sacha Boey (hamstring), Omar Elabdellaoui (eye) and Baris Yilmaz (hand fracture) due to injury.
Former Liverpool forward Ryan Babel is yet to start in the league so far this season, but the 34-year-old will continue to push for a place in the starting lineup ahead of either Olimpiu Morutan or Akturkoglu.
As for Alanyaspor, 18-year-old left-back Ahmet Gulay remains their only injury concern, as he continues to recover from a groin problem.
Experienced defender Juanfran, who made one senior appearance for Real Madrid back in 2010, is set to start at right-back, while Colombian Cristian Borja will likely play on the opposite side.
Summer signing Famara Diedhiou, who scored 10 goals for Bristol City last season, is expected to lead the line as the lone striker.
Galatasaray possible starting lineup:
Muslera; Yedlin, Nelsson, Luyindama, Van Aanholt; Kutlu, Antalyali; Akturkoglu, Cicaldau, Babel; Dervisoglu
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Kirintili; Juanfran, Awaziem, Milunovic, Borja; Aksoy, Gunes; Candeias, Akbaba, Davidson; Diedhiou
We say: Galatasaray 2-0 Alanyaspor
Galatasaray will be full of confidence right now and will be keen to extend their unbeaten run across all competitions to 10 matches with another victory on Sunday.
The hosts will be strong favourites on home soil and we can see them securing a routine victory in Istanbul.
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 Galatasaray win with a probability of 58.64%. A draw had a probability of 22.1% and a win for Alanyaspor had a probability of 19.29%.
The most likely scoreline for a Galatasaray win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.52%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.01%) and 2-1 (9.93%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.44%), while for an Alanyaspor win it was 0-1 (5.49%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
