The early offering from the Turkish Super Lig on Thursday sees Istanbul Basaksehir travel to Gaziantep.

The visitors have recovered from a nightmare result before the World Cup to maintain a title charge.

Match preview

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Gaziantep come into this fixture in indifferent form, having now gone five games without a win in the league.

Their last win in the Super Lig came against Konyaspor in October, and they hope they will be able to record a victory at some point before they face those opponents again in the cup in a few weeks.

It is in the cup where they have reserved their good form, as their last three wins all came on a cup run which has seen them now reach the last 16.

Transferring that form, where they have beaten Sariyer, Kutahyaspor and Boluspor, into league matters will be important though because Gaziantep are one of the cluster of sides in the bottom half only separated by a few points and in danger of slipping close to trouble.

A draw with Besiktas on their return to action after the World Cup break was a positive result, but they would have been devastated given they were four minutes away from three valuable points.

They followed that up by losing in disappointing circumstances to fellow mid-table outfit Giresunspor last time out, as Riad Bajic's 95th minute goal condemned them to defeat.

Basaksehir, on the other hand, have different matters to attend to, as the 2020 champions look set to be involved in another title challenge while also on a European adventure.

Three wins from three since the return of club football was much needed given that they went into the break on the back of a shocking 7-0 home defeat to Galatasaray.

They had the best defensive record in the league before that debacle, and unsurprisingly no longer do, but they have suddenly been able to find their shooting boots, scoring eight in those three wins.

League successes over Umraniyespor and Antalyaspor leave them three points off league leaders Galatasaray, and Gala are the only side in the league who have picked up more points (15 points) than Basaksehir (10 points) in the last five.

Team News

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Abdulkadir Parmak is the only known injury concern for Gaziantep going into this fixture, but he is edging close to a return after missing their post-World Cup matches.

Valmir Veliu came in for their game at Giresunspor and found the net, so he should keep his place in the side on the wing, while Serbian Marko Jevtovic could come back into the side here after missing that game.

Mesut Ozil continues to miss out with a back injury for Basaksehir, but fellow veteran Lucas Biglia could be close to a comeback after going off injured against Goztepe in the cup two weeks ago.

Five of the players who started the 7-0 hammering at the hands of Galatasaray have not started any of their games since, with Junior Caicara, Muhammed Sengezer and Hasan Ali Kaldirim all not featuring at all.

Gaziantep possible starting lineup:
Guvenc; Kitsiou, Ersoy, Djilobodji, Hanousek; Jevtovic, Soyalp, Maxim; Eskihellac, Joao Figueiredo, Veliu

Istanbul Basaksehir possible starting lineup:
Babacan; Ozbayrakli, Ndayishimiye, Leo Duarte, Lucas Lima; Tekdemir, Aleksic, Turuc; Gurler, Okaka, Chouiar

We say: Gaziantep 0-2 Istanbul Basaksehir

Emre Belozoglu's side have responded very well to the catastrophic scoreline they suffered before the break and have the upper hand on paper here.

Gaziantep have been inconsistent and are struggling to register wins at the moment, so may find it difficult here.

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

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