Preview: Gaziantep vs. Hatayspor - prediction, team news, lineups

Gaziantep will look to end a five-game winless run in all competitions when they play host to Hatayspor on Monday.

The visitors, meanwhile, will be aiming to claim consecutive victories after winning 5-2 in their last outing.

Match preview

Gaziantep sit comfortably in 11th place and although a mid-table finish is the best they can hope for, Monday's hosts will be determined to end their current winless run.

Last weekend, they came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 scoreline against Altay with an Alexandru Maxim brace unable to prevent Gaziantep from falling to defeat.

Their woes continued in midweek as they departed the Turkish Cup following a dramatic cup tie against Alanayspor, which required extra time to separate the two sides.

Erol Bulut's side ensured that the game would need an additional 30 minutes, with Papy Djilobodji cancelling out Tayfur Bingol's opener in stoppage time, but Gaziantep were unable to build on the late equaliser, losing out to Oguz Aydin's winner.

Although they sit in mid-table, Gaziantep boast the joint third-best home record in the league after collecting 30 of their 36 points this season from home contests.

As for the visitors, they enter Monday's game in eighth position with four points separating them from the top four.

Hatayspor's dreams of European qualification received a boost at home last weekend as they put five past Yeni Malatyaspor.

A first-half brace from Ayoub El Kaabi and a strike from Yassine Benzia gave Hatayspor a three-goal lead at half time, although Nouha Dicko netted twice in quick succession to cut the deficit to one.

The hosts quashed any late fightback, with El Kaabi sealing his hat-trick before Dylan Saint-Louis struck to wrap up an impressive 5-2 victory.

Monday's visitors will be concerned by their recent away form after losing their four away matches by a combined 15-4 scoreline.

Team News

Mirza Cihan. Stelios Kitsiou, Hamza Mendyl, Luka Stankovski and Halil Ibrahim Pehlivan are all expected to be ruled out for the hosts due to injury issues.

Ertugrul Ersoy came into the backline for the midweek cup tie, but the defender is expected to be replaced in Monday's starting lineup by Alin Tosca.

The two players charged with offering the Gaziantep goal threat will be Joao Figueiredo and Maxim, who make up the front two.

Meanwhile, Fatih Kurucuk is still suspended for the visitors, while Adama Traore misses out through injury.

Kamil Corekci is also suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, which could force Sadik Bas to take up an unfavoured right-back position.

With 22 league goals between them, Hatayspor's main goal threat will come from El Kaabi and Mame Biram Diouf.

Gaziantep possible starting lineup:

Guvenc; Caulker, Tosca, Djilobodji; Ceylan, Vetrih, Niyaz, Erdogan, Sagal; Figueiredo, Maxim

Hatayspor possible starting lineup:

Munir; Bas, Oksuz, Falette, Adekugbe; Ribeiro, Ergun; El Kaabi, Benzia, Saint-Louis; Diouf

We say: Gaziantep 1-2 Hatayspor

Although Hatayspor have struggled recently on their travels, they will enter Monday's contest with a determined mindset as they hunt down a top-four finish and after beating Gaziantep in the reverse fixture, we think that Hatayspor will be confident of completing a league double over their hosts.