Kasimpsa will be looking to secure their first home win of the season when they play host to Fenerbahce in round five of the Turkish Super Lig on Sunday.
The Yellow Canaries journey to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium on a run of 10 consecutive victories against the hosts and will be looking to extend this impressive four-year streak.
Match preview
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Kasimpasa secured their first win of the 2024-25 Super Lig campaign in their last outing just before the international break as they edged out Caykur Rizespor 1-0 at the Caykur Didi Stadyumu on August 31.
After taking the lead in the sixth minute when Mortadha Ben Ouanes finished a well-worked team play, the Apaciler turned in a solid defensive display to repel Rizespor and see out all three points.
Prior to that, Kasimpasa kicked off the season with a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Konyaspor in Istanbul on August 10, before playing out consecutive stalemates against Hatayspor and Adana Demirspor.
Off the back of an impressive fifth-placed finish last season — their highest position since returning to the top flight in 2012 — head coach Sami Ugurlu will be impressed with his side's start to the new campaign as they look to put together a fine early-season form.
While Kasimpsa will look to pick up where they left off before the break, they face the daunting challenge of taking on an opposing side who have won each of their last 10 encounters since a 2-0 victory in June 2020.
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Fenerbahce, on the other hand, turned in another super team display last time out as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Alanyaspor when the two sides squared off at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.
Serbia international Dusan Tadic found the back of the net on either side of the half-time break to put the hosts in a comfortable lead before Edin Dzeko put the result beyond reach with a 67th-minute strike.
Since a 2-1 defeat against Lille in the Champions League third qualifying round on August 6, Fenerbahce have gone six consecutive games without defeats, picking up four wins and two draws while scoring 12 goals and keeping three clean sheets.
Having secured a second-placed finish last season, Jose Mourinho's side have picked up 10 points from their four Super Lig matches this term and will be looking to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table this weekend.
Fenerbahce head to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium unbeaten in each of their last 30 league matches, picking up 23 wins and seven draws since falling to a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Trabzonspor on November 4.
Team News
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Loret Sadiku was forced off injured midway through the second half against Caykur Rizespor last time out and the Moroccan midfielder is a doubt for Kasimpasa.
Should he fail to shake off the injury, former Nottingham Forest man Cafu could come into the fray, forming the two-man midfield pivot with German midfielder Gokhan Gul.
Experienced forward Josip Brekalo recently completed a move from Serie A side Fiorentina and the 26-year-old could be handed his Apaciler debut this weekend.
Fenerbahce will have to cope without the services of Nigeria international Bright Osayi-Samuel, who has missed the last two matches since coming off with a foot injury against Goztepe on August 17.
Dzeko was involved in two of the three goals against Alanyaspor just before the international break and the 38-year-old striker, who has 10 goals and assists for club and country this season, should lead the attack once again.
He should be joined in the final third by Allan Saint-Maximin, Sebastian Szymanski and Tadic, while Mert Muldur, Alexander Djiku, Caglar Soyuncu and Jayden Oosterwolde should team up at the defensive end of the pitch.
Former Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Amrabat and Serbia international Filip Kostic recently joined the Yellow Canaries and will be looking to make their debut this weekend.
Kasimpasa possible starting lineup:
Gianniotis; Winck, Opoku, Ozcan, Rodrigues; Gul, Hajradinovic; Espinoza, Kara, Ouanes; Fall
Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:
Livakovic; Muldur, Djiku, Soyuncu, Oosterwolde; Yuksek, Fred; Saint-Maximin, Szymanski, Tadic; Dzeko
We say: Kasimpasa 0-3 Fenerbahce
While Kasimpasa will look to continue from where they left off before the international break, they have their work cut out against a Fenerbahce side who are unbeaten in the league since November 2023. Mourinho's men have flown out of the blocks this season and we are backing them to extend their dominance over the hosts this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
