Hatayspor and Gaziantep draw the curtains on round nine of the Turkish Super Lig when they go toe to toe at the Hatay Ataturk Stadium on Monday.
Both sides head into the game having secured impressive wins over Yeni Malatyaspor and Altay respectively last time out and will be looking to keep the juggernaut rolling.
Match preview
Making their first appearance in the Turkish top flight, Hatayspor took the league by storm last term as they secured an impressive sixth-placed finish, missing out on a place in Europe by just four points.
The Star of the South, who have maintained their string of fine performances this season, find themselves in fourth place and could move second with a win on Monday.
It has not exactly been a smooth ride for Omer Erdogan's men, who kicked off the new campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Kasimpasa before suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Galatasaray in their subsequent outing.
However, the 44-year-old German steered an impressive turnaround as the Antakya-based side picked up four wins on the bounce before falling to a 2-1 loss against Fenerbahce on September 26.
Hatayspor returned to winning ways last time out when they edged out Yeni Malatyaspor 2-0 at the New Malatya Stadium courtesy of goals in either half from Ayoub El Kaabi and Mohammed Kesselly Kamara.
This impressive run of results has been down to their defensive sturdiness and free-scoring frontmen as they boast the league's joint-best defensive record with six goals conceded, while netting 16 goals at the opposite end of the pitch so far.
While they will be looking to kick on, they face the stern test of going up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in all but one of the last six meetings between the sides, with their only defeat coming in a friendly fixture back on August 8.
Similarly, Gaziantep bounced back to winning ways last time out when they comfortably saw off Altay 4-1 at the Gaziantep Kamil Ocak Stadium.
Following an uneventful first half, the Falcons upped the ante after the break and hit three goals inside the opening 16 minutes through a brace from Alexandru Maxim and Alexander Merkel's 57th-minute strike, and after Erhan Celenk pulled one back in the 63rd minute, Nouha Dicko scored his first goal of the season to cap off a sensational second-half performance.
This followed a humbling 4-0 defeat at the hands of Adana Demirspor at the 5 Ocak Fatih Terim which saw their run of three games without defeat come to an end.
After a sloppy start to the season, where they picked up one point from the opening three games, Erol Bulut will hope the win last time out can serve as a catalyst for a fine run of form as they look to move into the top half of the Super Lig standings.
Gaziantep, who secured a top-half finish last season, are currently 12th on the log, level on 11 points with Kayserispor, but could rise as high as ninth with a win.
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Team News
Hatayspor will be without the services of Ghanaian midfielder Isaac Sackey, who has missed the last two games after trudging off the pitch with a 26th-minute injury against Goztepe on September 22.
Another name on the club's injury list is Onur Ergun after the 28-year-old sustained a muscle problem against Kayserispor a little under one month ago.
With 12 goal involvements between them so far, Saba Lobjanidze and Mame Biram Diouf have a hand in 75% of the Star of the South's total goals scored this season and the duo could make a difference on Monday.
Gaziantep, on the other hand, remain without the services of Slovenian midfielder Amedej Vetrih and Polish defender Pawel Olkowski, who are both recuperating from groin injuries.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jefferson is also out of contention for the visitors after coming off with an injury against Basaksehir on September 22.
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Munir; Adekugbe, Oksuz, Kurucuk, Corekci; Boudjemaa, Ribeiro; Saint-Louis, Traore, Lobjanidze; El Kaabi
Gaziantep possible starting lineup:
Guvenc; Ceylan, Caulker, Djilobodji, Pehlivan; Merkel, Niyaz; Figueiredo, El Messaoudi, Sagal; Demir
We say: Hatayspor 2-0 Gaziantep
Both sides head into Monday's game fresh off the back of impressive wins last time out and will be looking to keep the ball rolling. However, Gaziantep face the uphill task of taking on a free-scoring Hatayspor side, who have also let in just six goals to date. We are tipping the hosts to maintain their fine string of results and claim their sixth win of the season.
Top tip
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 Hatayspor win with a probability of 52.84%. A draw had a probability of 23.9% and a win for Gaziantep had a probability of 23.25%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hatayspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.78%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.72%) and 2-0 (9.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.35%), while for a Gaziantep win it was 0-1 (6.63%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hatayspor would win this match.
