Sivasspor will be hoping to extend their current unbeaten run to four matches when they play host to Istanbul Basakeshir on Sunday.
The visitors, who sit in fifth position, have the chance to clinch back-to-back victories after edging out Yeni Malatyaspor in their most recent contest.
Match preview
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Sivasspor enter Sunday's encounter in 12th position, and their aim for the rest of the season will be to move into the top half of the table.
Even if they do finish in the top 10, Rize Calimbay's side have fallen short of expectations in the league this term after finishing in fourth and fifth place in the last two seasons respectively.
Their league campaign may not have flourished, but they have fared well in the Turkish Cup and with the first leg of their semi-final against Alanyaspor scheduled for April 20, Sunday's hosts may have one eye on the last-four encounter.
As they dream of lifting their first Turkish Cup, Sivasspor seem to be hitting their straps at the right time after they picked up victories over Adana Demirspor and Altay before drawing 2-2 with Giresunspor in their outing.
They would have been disappointed to miss out on a third consecutive victory,after a late brace from Giresunspor's Umut Nayir cancelled out goals from Olarenwaju Kayode and Max Gradel ensuring the contest ended in a 2-2 draw, but after failing to collect three points, Calimbay's outfit have the chance to claim a third consecutive home victory on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, are hunting down a top-four spot, with two points separating them from Alanayspor, who occupy fourth place.
Istanbul Basaksehir's European hopes had been dealt a blow in recent weeks as they have endured a four-game winless run, but they managed to end that poor run of form by squeezing past Yeni Malatyaspor last weekend.
Perhaps the meeting with rock-bottom Yeni Malatyaspor was closer than expected, but the three points were secured courtesy of a 29th-minute strike from Danijel Aleksic.
Emre Belozoglu's side will be confident of restricting the hosts on Sunday, with the visitors currently holding the second-best defensive away record in the Super Lig this season.
That confidence will also be boosted when Istanbul Basaksehir are reminded of the narrow 2-1 victory that they picked up over Sivasspor in the reverse fixture.
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Team News
Sivasspor were dealt a blow when the club announced that Kayode is unavailable after picking up an injury.
The forward joins an injury list that features Koray Altinay, Moussa Konate, Samba Camara and Ziya Erdal.
After returning from injury to start the last three matches, Fredrik Ulvestad will once again feature in the Sivasspor midfield on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, are expected to name an unchanged lineup for Sunday's contest after returning to winning ways last time out.
That would mean that Junior Caicara keeps his place at right-back after returning to the starting XI last weekend following a one-match suspension.
Stefano Okaka will lead the line for the visitors with the forward looking to add to the 10 league goals that he has netted this season.
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Vural; Yesilyurt, Goutas, Osmanpasa, Ciftci; Kayode, Fajr, Ulvestad, Arslan, Gradel; Yatabare
Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Caicara, Duarte, Epureanu, Lima; Turuc, Aleksic, Cigerci, Ozcan, Trezeguet; Okaka
We say: Sivasspor 1-1 Istanbul Basaksehir
Although Sivasspor may be slowly turning their attention to the upcoming Turkish Cup semi-final against Alanyaspor, they usually fare well on home turf, demonstrated by just two home league defeats this season, and we think that they will hold their European chasing visitors to a draw on Sunday.
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 Sivasspor win with a probability of 38.32%. A win for Istanbul Basaksehir had a probability of 33.85% and a draw had a probability of 27.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sivasspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.5%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.07%) and 2-0 (7.08%). The likeliest Istanbul Basaksehir win was 0-1 (10.64%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.1%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood.
