The 2022-23 Turkish Super Lig campaign begins this weekend, with last season's runners-up Fenerbahce hosting Gaziantep FK on Sunday.
The visitors were forced to withdraw from the division last season due to the Turkey-Syria earthquake earlier this year, but they have retained their place in the top flight.
Match preview
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Fenerbahce's long wait to reclaim Turkey's top division title goes on after finishing second in each of the previous two campaigns, with their last triumph coming in the 2013-14 season.
Jorge Jesus departed for Saudi Arabia outfit Al-Hilal during the summer, leading to Ismail Kartal returning for his third spell in charge of the club. The 62-year-old guided the Yellow Canaries to a second-placed finish in the 2014-15 campaign, before being replaced by Jesus last year.
Former Premier League stars Edin Dzeko, Dusan Tadic and Ryan Kent have joined the club on free transfers during the summer transfer window, while Sebastian Szymanski and Rodrigo Becao have been purchased at fees around the €10m mark as replacements for the outgoing Arda Guler and Attila Szalai.
While Kartal and his players will have every intention of ending the club's ongoing title drought, they will recognise that overhauling Galatasaray will not be an easy proposition given their rivals' superb form last season. As such, getting off to a strong start at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Sunday is imperative.
Gaziantep, meanwhile, will aim to rebuild themselves on the pitch after the disastrous events away from football in February.
Indeed, the epicentre of the Mw 7.8 earthquake, which caused widespread damage and tens of thousands of fatalities, was placed at around 37 kilometres North West of Gaziantep. This made it impossible for both Gaziantep and Hatayspor to host games of football in the short-term, forcing them to withdraw from the season.
Prior to the incident, Gaziantep had collected 25 points from their opening 22 games, suggesting they may have had enough about them to finish just clear of relegation in what proved to be one of the tightest battles at the bottom end of the table in recent years.
After winning two of his opening three games in charge following being appointed as interim manager a matter of weeks before the local earthquake, Erdal Gunes has been handed a two-year contract as permanent boss, with the 41-year-old's main target likely to be avoiding relegation. As such, he may not be expecting much beyond maximum effort from their trip to the capital this weekend.
Team News
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Fenerbahce will be without Luan Peres due to suspension, while Lincoln, Serdar Aziz, Mert Hakan Yandas and Emre Mor could all miss out through injury.
Kartal may be tempted to freshen things up in the form of a few changes after seeing his side defeat Maribor 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa Conference League qualifying tie on Thursday, with Alexander Djiku likely to start in defence.
Gaziantep, meanwhile, could travel without Ilker Karakas due to a collarbone fracture.
Having not played a competitive fixture since February, their lineup is very difficult to predict, but former Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic will expect to start.
Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:
Bayindir; Osayi-Samuel, Becao, Djiku, Kadioglu; Zajc, Yuksek; Kahveci, Tadic, King; Dzeko
Gaziantep possible starting lineup:
Sen; M'Bakata, Ersoy, Kizildag, Khacef; Soyalp, Jevtovic; Markovic, Maxim, Gradel; Riascos
We say: Fenerbahce 3-1 Gaziantep
Gaziantep have some talented attacking players and could cause Fenerbahce problems in isolated moments on Sunday, but it is likely to take them time to gel together after being out of competitive action for six months.
The hosts, on the other hand, will want to hit the ground running ahead of a potential title charge, and we can envisage them bagging a relatively comfortable victory in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
