Preview: Giresunspor vs. Fenerbahce - prediction, team news, lineups

Fenerbahce will travel to the Cotanak Stadium on Saturday to face Giresunspor with the visitors currently occupying sixth place in the Turkish Super Lig.

The hosts, meanwhile, are embroiled in a relegation battle and enter the weekend contest just one point above the drop zone.

Match preview

© Reuters

Giresunspor are winless in their last four games and confidence will be low in the home dressing room after suffering consecutive defeats.

A 3-1 home defeat to Alanyaspor was followed by a 1-0 away loss last weekend against Konyaspor, which leaves Hakan Keles's side hovering just above the relegation zone.

Saturday's hosts have now lost seven of their last 10 games in all competitions, while their previous seven league matches have yielded just four points.

Goalscoring has been a particular issue for Giresunspor who have scored 22 goals in the league this term - only Yeni Malatyaspor have conceded fewer.

Despite possessing the joint-fourth best defensive record in the league, Giresunspor's inability to regularly find the net has resulted in them slipping down the league table.

As for Fenerbahce, their form has dropped off in recent weeks after winning just once in their previous six games in all competitions.

They fell to a 1-0 defeat last weekend, with a Berkay Ozcan effort helping Adana Demirspor claim a narrow victory.

Another 1-0 loss followed in midweek, resulting in Fenerbahce's exit from the Turkish Super Cup after the 10-men of Kayserispor struck in the fourth minute of stoppage time to snatch a dramatic win.

Saturday's visitors have failed to win any of their last five away league fixtures, but four draws in that period demonstrates that Fenerbahce have been hard to beat on the road in recent weeks.

Having already picked up a 2-1 victory over Giresunspor already this season, Ismail Kartal's side will be quietly confident that they can collect all three points on Saturday.

Team News

© Reuters

Giresunspor will be without the services of Erol Akdag and Hayrullah Bilazer due to injury issues.

Following his return from the Africa Cup of Nations, Hamidou Traore came into the starting lineup last weekend and the Mali international will feature in the Giresunspor midfield on Saturday.

Fousseni Diabate has top-scored for the hosts in the league this season, and he will look to add to his six-goal tally against Fenerbahce.

Meanwhile, the visitors are unable to call upon the services of Mesut Ozil, Filip Novak and Altay Bayindir due to injury issues.

Due to an accumulation of yellow cards, Miguel Crespo will also miss out as he serves a one-match suspension.

Serdar Aziz was suspended for last weekend's league fixture, but the 31-year-old will be included in the squad for Saturday's contest.

Giresunspor possible starting lineup:

Kocuk; Yavru, Diarra, Perez, Behich; Flavio, Traore, Diabate; Suleymanov, Serginho, Nayir

Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:

Ozer; Sangare, Kim, Szalai, Kadioglu; Sosa, Tufan, Yandas; Osayi-Samuel, Valencia, Berisha

We say: Giresunspor 1-3 Fenerbahce

With Giresunspor struggling to pick up points, we think that they will be unable to trouble a Fenerbahce side that is oozing with quality, with the visitors looking to close the gap to the top four.