Kayserispor have the opportunity to extend their current unbeaten run of games in all competitions to five on Saturday, when they travel to face the Turkish Super Lig's bottom side Caykur Rizespor.
The hosts have managed to secure their first two wins of this campaign during their last four outings, and victory this weekend could lift Rizespor to within three points of safety.
Match preview
After a really positive 2-0 win over fourth-placed Alanyaspor at the beginning of this month, Hamza Hamzaoglu's side were beaten by third-placed Konyaspor last time out.
Despite recording 26 shots, Rizespor fell to a 3-0 defeat in Konya and the biggest lesson they will take from that game is to be more efficient in front of goal, as only four of their 26 attempts were on target.
That defeat did not come as a surprise, though, as Hamzaoglu's side have lost seven out of seven away games this season, but they will be looking to make it three wins in a row at home this weekend.
Rizespor's manager will have good knowledge of the Kayserispor players, having managed them for a short spell earlier this year in the latter stages of last season, but he did not enjoy a successful time in Kayseri as he did not manage to record a single win.
Hikmet Karaman is now in charge of Kayserispor and he will be positive about his team's hopes this season as they have put together a short unbeaten run at the moment.
Kayserispor would have hoped for more from their last outing against Goztepe, who are in the relegation zone, as they were held to a 1-1 draw after Goztepe equalised with just eight minutes to play.
Nevertheless, that draw did mean that Karaman's side remain unbeaten since October 23, and that will give the visitors confidence heading into Saturday's encounter.
Karaman is also coming up against his former side, but his second spell at Rizespor came a long time ago leaving the club in 2017, meaning that his understanding of Rizespor's current squad will be less helped by his own experiences four years ago.
This matchup between Rizespor and Kayserispor has tended to conclude with a home win in recent years, with the last away victory coming in February 2017, suggesting that history backs Rizespor for three points on Saturday.
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Team News
Alper Potuk, Gokhan Gonul and Ronaldo Mendes will all continue to be sidelined for Rizespor as they remain out with injuries, but Hamzaoglu could name a very similar side to the one which defeated Alanyaspor.
With the forced change at right-back, with Aminu Umar coming in for Gonul, and Yannick Bolasie being expected to retain his place in the starting 11 from last weekend's defeat, that will allow Fernando Boldrin, Tyler Boyd and Joel Pohjanpalo to also keep their spots in the lineup.
Pohjanpalo has not managed to find the back of the net for Rizespor since the beginning of October, and so he will be desperate to end that goal drought on Saturday.
Bernard Mensah, Emrah Bassan, Mario Gavranovic and Miguel Cardoso have eight league goals between them this season, meaning that Kayserispor are trying to find different sources of goals in their absence through injury.
Striker İlhan Parlak opened his account for this campaign last time out, and he is expected to continue to lead the line for the visitors, who will set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Akkan; Sertel, Holmen, Ay, Umar; Djokovic, Baiano; Boyd, Bolasie, Boldrin; Pohjanpalo
Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Lung Jr; Carole, Kolovetsios, Hosseini, Bulut; Campanharo; Thiam, Kemen, Akdag, Bassan; Parlak
We say: Caykur Rizespor 1-2 Kayserispor
Rizespor will be confident after recording two wins in their last two home games, which is why they are likely to get on the scoresheet again on saturday.
However, Kayserispor will also believe they can take all three points given their current unbeaten run of form, and they are likely to want to capitalise on any damage that was put on Rizespor during their 3-0 defeat last time out.
Top tip
Sammy Wynne
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 Caykur Rizespor win with a probability of 42.48%. A win for Kayserispor had a probability of 29.68% and a draw had a probability of 27.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Caykur Rizespor win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.45%) and 2-0 (8.17%). The likeliest Kayserispor win was 0-1 (10.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.03%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Caykur Rizespor in this match.
