Preview: Çorum Belediyespor vs Eyupspor - prediction, team news, lineups

Corum Belediyespor will be aiming to secure a historic first-ever win in the Turkish top flight when they play host to Eyupspor at the Corum City Stadium in round four of the Super Lig on Sunday afternoon.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since their clash in the 1. Lig back in March 2024, when the Red Lightnings secured a 1-0 victory in Istanbul courtesy of a second-half strike from former Angolan international Geraldo.

Match preview

It has been a difficult start to life in the Turkish Super Lig for debutants Corum Belediyespor, who suffered a 6-2 hammering at the hands of Besiktas when the two sides squared off at the Tupras Stadium on Monday.

Signed from Italian giants Juventus in the summer window, Dusan Vlahovic opened his account for Besiktas, netting a hat-trick to cap off a brilliant individual display, with Mohammed Diomande and Ermin Mahmic getting on the scoresheet for the visitors.

This was a second consecutive defeat for Corum, who failed to build on their impressive opening-day stalemate against Galatasaray when they suffered a 1-0 loss against Kasimpasa a fortnight ago thanks to an early strike from Adrian Benedyczak.

Having secured a 2-0 victory over Erokspor in the promotion playoff final back in May to end a 29-year wait for top-flight football, Ugur Ucar’s men will look to finally get off the mark this weekend and avoid becoming the first side to go without a win in their first four Super Lig matches since Pendikspor in 2024-25.

While Corum may be newcomers to the Super Lig, they are no strangers to this weekend's opponents, having met on three occasions in the past, losing once and claiming two wins, including a 1-0 victory in their 1. Liga clash back in March 2024.

Over in Istanbul, Eyupspor turned in a fine show of fighting spirit last Sunday as they came from behind to secure a late 2-1 victory over Alanyaspor at the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium.

Arda Usluoglu broke the deadlock inside the opening minute to hand Alanyaspor a dream start to the tie, but Ahmed Abdullahi restored parity in the 39th minute before Zak Jules struck in the fourth minute of stoppage time to turn the game on its head.

Having stumbled into the new season with consecutive defeats against Besiktas and Gaziantep, head coach Ozhan Pulat will hope last weekend’s last-gasp victory can spark a run of form, as they look to avoid another season of looking over their shoulders and relegation concerns.

Off the back of a hugely impressive sixth-placed finish in their debut Super Lig campaign two years back, Eyupspor narrowly beat the drop last season, picking up just 33 points from 34 games to finish 15th in the standings, one point above the relegation zone.

Çorum Belediyespor Turkish Super Lig form:

Eyupspor Turkish Super Lig form:

Team News

Barring any late fitness issues, Corum head into the weekend with a clean bill of health and no suspension concerns, giving Ucar the luxury of a full strength squad at his disposal.

Following his big-money move from Slovan Liberec in the summer, Mahmic turned in an eye-catching debut display off the bench against Besiktas, and the Bosnian international could be rewarded with his first start for the Red Lightnings.

As for Eyupspor, summer signing Abdullahi was forced off injured midway through the second half against Alanyaspor last time out and the 22-year-old striker is out of contention for this weekend’s tie.

In Abdullahi's absence, Kasimpasa loanee Yusuf Barasi should be handed his first start of the season, forming the attacking trio with Konrad Michalak and French forward Bilal Boutobba.

At the opposite end of the pitch, Jules, who was involved in both goals against Alanyaspor, should form the back four with Talha Ulvan, Jawad El Yamiq and Italian full-back Simone Giordano.

Çorum Belediyespor possible starting lineup:

Felipe; Borza, Smolcic, Penetra, Sazdagr; Ramadani, Ozdemir, Diomande, Mahmic; Gurler, Ramirez

Eyupspor possible starting lineup:

Moldovan; Ulvan, El Yamiq, Jules, Giordano; Massanga, Costa, Yao; Michalak, Boutobba, Barasi

We say: Çorum Belediyespor 1-1 Eyupspor

Buoyed by their resilient display against Alanyaspor, Eyupspor will head into the weekend in high spirits as they look to put together a strong early-season form. Having netted four goals in their first three matches, Corum have proven decent in attack, but with nine goals shipped already, their vulnerability at the back is a cause for concern.

That said, we predict both sides will cancel out each other’s efforts and settle for a share of the spoils at the Corum City Stadium.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.