Konyaspor and Kasimpasa square off on Sunday looking for the win that will move either club away from the Super Lig relegation zone.
Although these teams sit in 15th and 12th place respectively, they each already hold at least four-point advantages over the bottom four.
Match preview
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Having not recorded back-to-back victories in Super Lig since the start of March, it is no surprise that Konyaspor find themselves at the wrong end of the table.
The Anatolian Eagle only finished in 16th place during 2023-24 and they are scraping to remain above that spot during this campaign, not helped by one win in seven games.
Recep Ucar's team had put together a four-game unbeaten streak featuring three draws heading into the turn of the year, only to suffer back-to-back defeats since then.
After losing 2-1 at Alanyaspor, Konyaspor blew an early lead against Fenerbahce to suffer a 3-2 defeat at home to Jose Mourinho's side.
On a positive note, they have still only played eight games at the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium, accumulating 10 points from those fixtures and losing just twice.
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Meanwhile, Kasimpasa are currently the draw specialists in the division with nine of their 18 matches in Turkey's top flight ending in stalemates.
Prior to their most recent 5-0 hammering at the hands of Goztepe, Hakan Keles's side had posted four draws in their previous five games, as well as beating Eyupspor in between.
Sitting just five points adrift of seventh position, the Apaches will have ambitions to break into the top half of the standings, yet focus must remain on staying at least five points clear of the bottom four.
Kasimpasa boast one of the best away records in the division, losing just once in nine fixtures and collecting 14 points in the process.
Team News
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Konyaspor are able to call upon Marko Jevtovic and Adil Demirbag after they each served suspensions for the previous match.
The places of Riechedly Bazoer and Emmanuel Boateng are both at risk with Ucar likely to recall the pair for this contest.
Keles will be forced into at least one alteration to his Kasimpasa XI after Nicholas Opoku was dismissed for two yellow cards versus Goztepe.
Yasin Ozcan is seemingly in line to deputise in the centre of defence, but the remainder of the team could stay the same with four goals having been conceded in the second half last time out.
Konyaspor possible starting lineup:
Slowik; Ulgun, Demirbag, Yazgili, Guilherme; Jevtovic; Prip, Pedrinho, Ibrahimoglu, Erdogan; Kramer
Kasimpasa possible starting lineup:
Gianniotis; Winck, Ozcan, Ciftpinar, Rodrigues; Gul; Fall, Hajradinovic, Barak, Brekalo; Costa
We say: Konyaspor 1-1 Kasimpasa
Both teams have found wins hard to come by of late, placing extra emphasis on a morale-boosting victory being recorded here. However, we can only see a stalemate being played out, likely with minimal goals in what would still be a satisfying result for each side.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
