Early strugglers Istanbulspor welcome Antalyaspor to the Necmi Kadioglu Stadyumu for a Super Lig clash on Saturday.

An awful run of form has seen Istanbul's lesser-known top-flight club slip to 19th in the table ahead of the weekend's action.

Match preview

After narrowly avoiding the drop last season, Istanbulspor look set for another tough campaign near the bottom.

In their first season back at this level, a 4-0 win over bottom-placed Umraniyespor was required for the club to avoid relegation on the final day, as just one point separated the bottom five.

After the earthquake, which threw the league into disarray in February, two of the relegation places were nulled as Hatayspor and Gaziantep withdrew, but this time round, four teams will go down, making Istanbulspor heavy favourites for the drop.

Fatih Tekke's side start this weekend second bottom with just two points from their opening five matches.

They still have a game in hand, but being the league's lowest scorers after drawing three successive blanks suggests that may not be much of an advantage.

Ibrahim Yilmaz has scored their only two goals of the season so far, and they came in respective 1-1 draws with Konyaspor and Kayserispor at the start of the season.

Since then, Istanbul Basaksehir and Gaziantep claimed their only points of the season so far against them, while Galatasaray also unsurprisingly got the better of Tekke's men.

Barring a short trip to Besiktas in their next away outing, Istanbulspor's run of fixtures looks promising on paper, so they must now pick up some points, otherwise they will be in huge trouble when tougher tests come later in the year.

They now face an Antalyaspor side who scored very late goals in both of their meetings last season to take four points.

Veysel Sari's 96th-minute winner saw Antalyaspor win 2-1 on home soil, before the now-departed Haji Wright netted an 88th-minute equaliser in a 3-3 draw here which saw the visitors come from behind three times.

Antalyaspor now come into the fixture with confidence too, after picking up their first win of the season last weekend - a 2-0 success over bottom-of-the-table Samsumspor.

Their only two defeats this season came against Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, both formidable clubs with the latter still maintaining a 100% record so far.

After an opening day defeat, Nuri Sahin's men then recorded three straight 1-1 draws with Konyaspor, Sivasspor and Kayserispor.

This upcoming encounter, and their next on the road away at Gaziantep will likely provide Antalyaspor with their best chance of collecting points in their next five games, with home matches against Galatasaray, Basaksehir and Besiktas all to come in succession.

Team News

After being left out last weekend, Yilmaz, scorer of both of Istanbulspor's goals so far this season, could come back in up front.

Lithuanian midfielder Modestas Vorobjovas is a doubt as he has been in and out of the squad since his arrival from Chindia Targoviste over the summer.

Defender Simon Deli will also require a late fitness test as he continues to nurse a foot injury, as midfielder Okan Erdogan filled in for him at centre-half last week.

Jakub Kaluzinski is the only injury concern for Sahin and Antalyaspor, with the Polish midfielder out with a muscle issue.

Israeli international Sagiv Yehezkel scored both of Antalyaspor's goals on his full debut in their 2-0 win over Samsunspor last weekend, so the natural right-back may well be utilised as a winger at his new club.

Ramzi Safouri also joined from Hapoel Be'er Sheva along with Yehezkel, but he is still yet to make his first start.

Instead, Lens loanee Adam Buksa is set to lead the line again after scoring two and assisting another in his last two games, after arriving as Wright's replacement.

Istanbulspor possible starting lineup:
Jensen; Duhaney, Yesil, Erogan, Temel; Ndao, Loshaj, Rroca, Ethemi; Jackson Laurentino, Yilmaz

Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Helton Leite; Balci, Sari, Toprak, Vural; Rakip, Van de Streek, Saric; Yehezkel, Buksa, Larsson

We say: Istanbulspor 0-2 Antalyaspor

Istanbulspor have been on a rotten run with no points and no goals in their last three matches, as a relegation battle looks on the cards again.

Meanwhile, Antalyaspor are fresh from a win last weekend, which came after a narrow and unfortunate defeat at league leaders Fenerbahce, making them the favourites for this one.


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