Looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, Konyaspor play host to Alanyaspor at the Konya Buyuksehir Arena in round eight of the Turkish Super Lig on Saturday.
The game has all the makings of a proper contest as both sides, who are currently level on 13 points, will be seeking to get one over the other and strengthen their position in the top half of the standings.
Match preview
Once again, Konyaspor were forced to pay for their recent defensive struggles as they threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw against Kasimpasa last Monday.
After Ahmed Hassan and Serdar Gurler scored in a three-minute spell to put the Anadolu Kartali two goals up in the 21st minute, Michal Travnik pulled one back for Kasimpasa eight minutes later before Umut Bozok restored parity from the penalty spot shortly after the hour mark.
This was a third consecutive draw for Konyaspor, who were also involved in a share of the spoils with Giresunspor and Trabzonspor in their previous two outings.
Despite their recent dry spell, Ilhan Palut will be satisfied with his side's solid start to the season, as they are one of just two sides in the division yet to lose a game so far.
Saturday's hosts, who are currently sixth in the Super Lig table, will feel the need to push for maximum points in this game, as they could rise as high as second place by the end of this round of matches.
However, to do so they will have to see off an equally-matched Alanyaspor side, who have picked up three wins from the last four league encounters between the teams.
On the other hand, Alanyaspor's blistering run in the Super Lig took a slight halt when they were held to a 1-1 draw by a rampant Trabzonspor side last Monday.
In a game where Huseyin Turkmen received his marching orders, Famara Diedhiou broke the deadlock in the 36th minute, but Trabzonspor wasted no time in grabbing an equaliser as former Cardiff City man Andreas Cornelius struck six minutes later to force a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, the Alanya-based outfit were on a run of three consecutive wins, seeing off Giresunspor, Galatasaray and Kasimpasa while scoring four goals and conceding none.
Alanyaspor are currently unbeaten in five of their seven games to date, claiming four wins and one draw, and this solid start to the season has been owing to their sturdiness at the defensive end of the pitch.
They have kept four clean sheets and conceded just once outside the nine shipped in successive games against Hatayspor and Altay back in August.
After missing out on the top-five places by five points last term, a return to Europe will be the goal for Alanyaspor, and following a solid start to the season, Bulent Korkmaz will feel upbeat about his side's chances of equalling their 2019 campaign, when they secured a fifth-placed finish.
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Team News
Palut will be unable to call upon the services of Ukrainian forward Artem Kravets, who has been ruled out since picking up a muscle injury against Galatasaray back in April.
Ahmed Hassan was handed his first starting appearance of the season against Kasimpasa last time out, and after an impressive performance, the Olympiacos loanee could retain his place in the Konyaspor starting XI.
Meanwhile, Turkish left-back Ahmet Gulay remains out of contention for the visitors as the youngster continues his spell on the sidelines through a groin problem.
Cristian Borja, who is on loan from Portuguese side Braga, is also a major doubt after the Colombian defender came off injured during the game against Trabzonspor last time out.
With three-goal involvement in the most recent two games, Davidson has been on song for Alanyaspor and the Brazilian forward will be one to watch out for on Saturday.
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Sehic; Skubic, Calik, Bardakci, Guilherme; Dikmen, Hadziahmetovic, Cekici; Bytyqi, Hassan, Gurler
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Kirintili; Juanfran, Awaziem, Milunovic, Borja; Aksoy, Gunes; Karaca, Akbaba, Davidson; Diedhiou
We say: Konyaspor 1-1 Alanyaspor
After opening the season with three wins from their first four games, Konyaspor appear to have fallen off the pace in recent weeks. They face a rampant Alanyaspor side who will be seeking an immediate return to winning ways following their draw against Trabzonspor last time out and considering both sides are evenly-matched on paper, we predict they will cancel out each other's efforts and settle for a share of the spoils.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
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 Konyaspor win with a probability of 39.71%. A win for Alanyaspor had a probability of 33.3% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Konyaspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.41%) and 2-0 (7.14%). The likeliest Alanyaspor win was 0-1 (9.75%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.8%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.8% likelihood.
