A run of four consecutive victories has seen Goztepe SK pull three points clear of the drop zone, and they will aim to increase that gap on Sunday when they play host to Altay.
The visitors, meanwhile, are in 19th place and eight points adrift of safety after losing their last eight league games.
Match preview
Goztepe ended 2021 in 19th place with only 15 points to their name, but a superb start to the calendar year has seen them rise up to 14th position thanks to four consecutive league victories.
It has been a run of results that has seen Goztepe score 11 goals, while they have conceded on just three occasions.
In their most recent outing, they claimed a 2-1 away victory over Istanbul Basaksehir courtesy of efforts from Cherif Ndiaye and Halil Akbunar.
Only Kasimpasa and Alanyaspor have scored more Super Lig goals in 2022 than Goztepe, and they will be looking to continue their fine goalscoring form on Sunday.
Having lost only once in their last eight home games in all competitions, Goztepe will be quietly confident of picking up a positive result against a struggling Altay side.
Altay's current form very much differs from their opponents as Sunday's hosts have lost their last nine games in all competitions.
The responsibility of changing Altay's fortunes falls to Serkan Ozbalta who was announced as manager during the international break.
The challenge for Ozbalta will be to help Altay discover their goalscoring touch, having failed to score in five of their last six competitive matches.
There are also issues at the other end of the pitch as they have kept just two clean sheets in their 23 league games, while Rizespor are the only Super Lig side to have conceded more goals (39) this season than Sunday's visitors (38).
Ahead of the weekend's fixture, Ozbalta will remind his team of the victory that they achieved against Goztepe earlier in the season, when Marco Paixao struck in stoppage time to guide his side to a 2-1 win.
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Team News
Kerim Alici is unavailable for the hosts, with a knee injury keeping the 24-year-old out of action.
Soner Aydogdu could return to the starting lineup after missing the meeting with Istanbul Basaksehir due to suspension.
Having top-scored for Goztepe this season, Ndiaye will be hoping that he can add to his seven-goal league tally on Sunday.
As for Altay, Cesar Pinares will miss the game following his red card against Konyaspor, while Ceyhun Gulselam is also suspended for Sunday's fixture due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
Eric Bjorkander will partner Murat Akca in the centre of defence, and they will be hoping that they can keep Altay's third league clean sheet of the season.
Daouda Bamba could come into the starting lineup to provide a goal threat for the visitors after scoring seven league goals this term.
Goztepe SK possible starting lineup:
Egribayat; Angel, Arslanagic, Nukan; Paluli, Nwobodo, Aydogdu, Emir; Ndiaye, Akbunar, Jahovic
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Unlu, Akca, Bjorkander, Naderi; Thiam, Yildirim, Poko; Kappel, Rodriguez, Bamba
We say: Goztepe SK 2-1 Altay
Altay will be hoping they experience a new manager bounce, but with the dressing room still low on confidence, we think that they may fall short when they come up against one of the in-form teams currently in the Turkish Super Lig.
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 Goztepe SK win with a probability of 56.18%. A draw had a probability of 23.9% and a win for Altay had a probability of 19.94%.
The most likely scoreline for a Goztepe SK win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.44%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.62%) and 2-1 (9.68%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.33%), while for an Altay win it was 0-1 (6.64%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 3% likelihood.
