Seeking to pick up their fifth win in seven games, Sivasspor take a trip to the Kadir Has Stadium to face Kayserispor in round 19 of the Turkish Super Lig on Monday.
The visitors, meanwhile, will head into the game aiming to snap their three-game winless run and get one over the visitors after suffering defeat in both home and away fixtures last season.
Match preview
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Kayserispor put on an impressive display last Thursday when they fought back from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Yeni Malatyaspor at the New Malatya Stadium.
After falling two goals behind in the first half through strikes from Mounir Chouiar and Adem Buyuk, Hikmet Karaman's side rallied after the interval as substitutes Mario Gavranovic and Mustafa Pektemek netted to force a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, Kayserispor saw their two-game winning run come to an end courtesy of a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Besiktas on December 12 before holding out for an uneventful goalless draw with Gaziantep one week later.
Sunday's hosts are now winless in all but one of their most recent seven league games, with a 2-0 win over Antalyaspor on December 5 being the only exception, and this poor run of results has seen them drop to 15th place in the Super Lig table after claiming 21 points from 18 games.
On the other hand, Sivasspor's rise into the the top half of the Turkish Super Lig standings took a slight halt last time out when they were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Caykur Rizespor side.
In a game where Olarenwaju Kayode and Joel Pohjanpalo scored for either side to force a share of the spoils, Riza Calimbay's men were guilty of wasteful finishing in front of goal as they squandered a plethora of clear-cut chances to seal the game.
Prior to that, Sivasspor were on a blistering run of four consecutive victories, scoring nine goals and conceding just one since a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Istanbul Basaksehir at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium on November 20.
After a slow start to the season, where they failed to pick up a win in their opening five league games, this upturn in form has seen the Braves rise to 10th place on the log, level on 26 points with 11-place Fatih Karagumruk.
Sivasspor head into Monday's game as the division's third-best defensive side after shipping 17 goals in 18 games — with only first-place Trabzonspor and second-place Konyaspor conceding fewer so far.
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Team News
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Kayserispor will take to the pitch without the services of Ghanian midfielder Bernard Mensah, who picked up a season-ending ACL injury in October's game against Konyaspor.
Mustafa Pektemek and Mario Gavranovic repaid the managers faith last time out when they both found the target after coming off the bench at half time and the duo could be rewarded with starting roles on Monday.
Meanwhile, Sivasspor head into the game with several injury concerns down the spine of the team as the midfield duo of Caner Osmanpasa and Fredrik Ulvestad are both out with muscle problems.
Twenty-nine-year-old defender Aaron Appindangoye continues his long journey to full fitness after sustaining an Achilles injury, while forward Sefa Yilmaz is set to miss his seventh consecutive game through an ankle problem.
Former Getafe man Jorge Felix is also on the Sivasspor injury table after the Spaniard picked up a muscle problem in the game against Antalyaspor on October 16.
Kayserispor possible starting lineup:
Lung Jr; Bulut, Hosseini, Kolovetsios, Carole; Bassan, Kemen, Campanharo, Pektemek, Thiam; Gavranovic
Sivasspor possible starting lineup:
Vural; Oguz, Goutas, Camara, Erdal; Kesgin, Cofie, Fajr; Henrique, Yatabare, Gradel
We say: Kayserispor 0-2 Sivasspor
Sivasspor appear to have hit their stride once again as they head into the game on a run of four wins and one draw from their last five games. They are one of the division's best defensive sides and we predict they will extend their winning streak against Kayserispor to three games on Monday.
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 Kayserispor win with a probability of 42.61%. A win for Sivasspor had a probability of 30.2% and a draw had a probability of 27.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Kayserispor win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.63%) and 2-0 (7.95%). The likeliest Sivasspor win was 0-1 (9.57%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.85%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 3.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Kayserispor would win this match.
