Alanyaspor will be aiming to make it back-to-back wins at the start of their new Turkish Super Lig campaign when they travel to Caykur Rizespor on Saturday evening.
The visitors will enter the contest off the back of a 2-0 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir, while Rizespor's season started with a 2-1 defeat at Adana Demirspor.
Match preview
Rizespor were relegated from Turkey's top flight at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, but they were able to secure promotion back to this level at the first time of asking.
Indeed, the Rize-based outfit finished second in the TFF First League last season on 68 points, which saw them earn automatic promotion, just ahead of Pendikspor, who then triumphed in the playoffs.
Ilhan Palut's side have been very active this summer in terms of the transfer market, with Dal Varesanovic proving to be their biggest signing from Sarajevo.
There have also been a number of departures, so there is a fresh look to the squad this season, and they were unfortunate to lose their season opener away to Adana Demirspor last weekend.
The two teams were level heading into second-half stoppage time, with John Uzuegbunam coming off the bench to level for the promoted side in the 87th minute, only for Yusuf Erdogan to score the winner for the home team in the 91st minute.
Alanyaspor, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 2-0 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir in their first match of the new season on Monday night.
Joao Novais made the breakthrough in first-half stoppage time before Carlos Eduardo came up with the team's second deep into second-half stoppage time.
Alanyaspor have been present in the Super Lig since 2016, but they finished a disappointing 15th last season, surviving relegation by just a single point.
Omer Erdogan's side, as expected, have also been active this summer, with their standout acquisition proving to be Brazilian attacker Anderson Silva from Vitoria Guimaraes.
- L
- W
Team News
Rizespor have not reported any injury concerns ahead of this match, so it is expected to be the same squad that was available for the first game of the new campaign.
Head coach Palut is unlikely to change too many from the starting side, as there were huge positives from the narrow loss, with Oscar Pinchi set to be among those to keep their spots.
Oumar Diouf started through the middle but found it difficult to make his mark, and the 20-year-old could now be replaced by Uzuegbunam, who scored off the bench last time out.
Alanyaspor, meanwhile, will again be missing Zinedine Ferhat and Ahmed Hussan due to injury problems.
Head coach Erdogan has plenty of options for change, with Leroy Fer and Oguz Aydin among those who will be in the manager's thinking when it comes to possible alterations.
However, it could be a case of same again from the opening game of the season, with Eduardo joining Anderson Silva and Efecan Karaca in a strong front three.
Caykur Rizespor possible starting lineup:
Akkan; Korkmaz, Aliqulov, Topcu, Pehilvan; Olawoyin, Pala; Zeqiri, Pinchi, Keser; Uzuegbunam
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Augusto, Bayir, Aliti, Ozdemir; Novais, Richard, Janvier; Karaca, Silva, Eduardo
We say: Caykur Rizespor 0-1 Alanyaspor
Both sides would have earmarked this match as the perfect chance to secure some points, and we are expecting Saturday's contest to be very tight. It would not be a surprise to see a draw here, but Alanyaspor should have just about enough to navigate their way to a vital win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
