Fresh off the back of picking up their first Super Lig win in six outings, Yeni Malatyaspor welcome Altay to the New Malatya Stadium on Friday.
The visitors, on the other hand, head into the game on a run of two consecutive defeats and will be looking to arrest this slump in form.
Match preview
Yeni Malatyaspor moved out of the relegation zone last Saturday courtesy of an impressive 2-0 win over Adana Demirspor at the New Adana Stadium.
Despite seeing just 34% of the ball possession, a 36th-minute strike from Benjamin Tetteh and a second-half own goal from Simon Deli helped the visitors claim a much-needed win.
Prior to that, Marius Sumudica's side were on a run of five defeats on the bounce, conceding 11 goals and netting three since successive wins over Goztepe and Gaziantep back in August.
With nine points from a possible 27 this season, Yeni Malatyaspor are currently 16th in the Super Lig table, one point above Goztepe in the final relegation spot.
Their early struggles have been down to their frailties at the defensive end of the pitch, where they boast the second-worst record in the division with 16 goals conceded.
However, Sumudica will now hope the win last time out can serve as a catalyst for a fine run of form as they look to move clear of the drop zone over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Altay failed to return to winning ways last time out when they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Fatih Karagumruk on home turf.
In a cagey affair at the Alsancak Stadium, Parma loanee Yann Karamoh came up trumps for the visitors as he netted the only goal of the game on the quarter-hour mark to condemn the hosts to their second consecutive defeat.
Prior to that, Mustafa Denizli's men saw their three-game losing streak come to an end courtesy of a humbling 4-1 loss at the hands of Gaziantep at the Gaziantep Kamil Ocak Stadium.
After a solid start to the season, this drop-off in form has seen the Buyuk Altay fall to eighth place on the log, but considering the closeness of the teams in the top half of the table, a win this Friday could see them rise as high as fourth place.
Altay will feel confident of coming away with the desired result as they go up against an opposing side who are winless in all but one of the most recent four meetings between the sides, with a 4-0 win back in 2013 being the only exception.
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Team News
Following his side's impressive performance against Adana Demirspor last time out, we expect Sumudica to name an unchanged XI for the second game running.
Should that be the case, we could see a back three of Wallace, Sadik Ciftpinar and Semih Kaya shielding Ertac Ozbir between the sticks.
With eight-goal involvement between them, Benjamin Tetteh and Adem Buyuk have been on song for Yeni Malatyaspor, and we expect the duo to team up and handle business at the attacking end of the pitch once again.
Meanwhile, Altay will be without the Turkish duo of Nurettin Kucukdeniz and Eren Erdogan, who are currently recuperating from knee and ankle injuries respectively.
Martin Rodriguez is another name on the club's injury table after the Chilean midfielder sustained a muscle injury in the game against Goztepe on September 17.
Murat Akca hobbled off the pitch with a 52nd-minute injury against Fatih Karagumruk last time out and should the 31-year-old fail a fitness test, he could be replaced by veteran defender Ibrahim Ozturk in the starting XI.
Yeni Malatyaspor possible starting lineup:
Ozbir; Kaya, Wallace, Ciftpinar; Haddadi, Chouiar, Aabid, Ndong, Eskihellac; Tetteh, Buyuk
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Karayel, Bjorkander, Ozturk, Naderi; Poko, Thiam; Yildirim, Kapoel, Damba; Rayan
We say: Yeni Malatyaspor 1-2 Altay
Yeni Malatyaspor head into the game off the back of a morale-boosting victory last time out and will fancy their chances against an opposing side who have suffered a slump in form in recent weeks. However, Altay boasts one of the deadliest attacks in the division, netting 15 goals in nine outings, and we predict they will outscore their hosts and send them crashing back to earth.
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 Altay win with a probability of 42.38%. A win for Yeni Malatyaspor had a probability of 30.97% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for an Altay win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.74%) and 0-2 (7.67%). The likeliest Yeni Malatyaspor win was 1-0 (9.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.65%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood.
