Preview: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Besiktas - prediction, team news, lineups

Wolverhampton Wanderers continue their pre-season schedule with an encounter against Besiktas on Saturday evening.

While the Premier League outfit are playing their third fixture in the space of 72 hours, Besiktas come into the game unbeaten from three testing games.

Match preview

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After an 11-day break from action, Wolves restarted their list of fixtures with two games in less than 24 hours during their pre-season tour of Spain.

On Wednesday evening, Wolves made light work of Alaves, the Premier League outfit cruising to a 4-0 victory with Max Kilman's wonder goal capping off a perfect evening.

However, the following morning, a much-changed team was involved in a bizarre behind-closed-doors meeting with Levante with two players from either side being sent off by half time.

Yerson Mosquera and Daniel Podence were dismissed for Wolves, but Bruno Lage would have been relieved to see injuries and knocks kept to a minimum during a 2-1 defeat.

Wolves now kick on with a meeting against Besiktas, the teams being no strangers to each other with Wolves playing the Turkish giants in the 2019-20 Europa League.

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Besiktas are now managed by Valerien Ismael, the former head coach of Wolves' fierce rivals West Bromwich Albion, and they are very much a team in transition after failing to qualify for Europe.

There have already been a wide array of notable signings made by the club, including that of Romain Saiss who has joined after his six-year association with Wolves came to an end earlier this summer.

Ismael has also brought in Gedson Fernandes, Cenk Tosun and Wout Weghorst, players who have recently represented Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Burnley.

Besiktas have enjoyed an encouraging pre-season thus far, posting wins over Werder Bremen and Mainz either side of a draw with Viktoria Plzen.

Team News

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Leander Dendoncker and Morgan Gibbs-White are unlikely to be considered for starting roles after featuring in the first XI against Alaves and Levante.

Mosquera and Podence could play after their respective red cards in the latter game, with Jonny, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves, Pedro Neto and Raul Jimenez all in line to return.

Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo and Adama Traore will continue to be assessed over the coming days.

Ismael may opt to name a side which is similar to the one which started against Mainz last Friday.

Although Saiss did not feature in that game, the Moroccan has been named in the travelling squad for this contest, putting him in line to feature against his old side at some stage.

Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Sarkic; Mosquera, Coady, Boly; Jonny, Moutinho, Neves, Ait-Nouri; Podence, Jimenez, Neto

Besiktas possible starting lineup:

Ersin; Necip, Welinton, Montero, Rosier, Salih, Fernandes, Umut, Delibas, Nkoudou, Tosun

We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Besiktas

In usual circumstances, Wolves would be regarded as the marginal favourites for this game. However, we cannot ignore their efforts from earlier this week, something which we feel will lead to Besiktas taking advantage during the closing quarter of the contest.

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