Altay have their sights set on the top four in the Turkish Super Lig, currently sitting in ninth and only four points behind Besiktas, and they travel to Antalyaspor on Saturday in gameweek 12.
The home side recorded their first back-to-back wins of the season with victory last time out which added to their triumph in the Turkish Cup, and three points this weekend could lift Antalyaspor away from the relegation zone.
Match preview
After a comfortable 5-0 win over second-tier side Diyarbekir Spor AS in the third round of the Turkish Cup, Antalyaspor followed that up with a 2-1 win against Giresunspor in the league.
Fredy scored his third and fourth goal of the Super Lig season to put his side 2-0 ahead and a late penalty from Giresunspor's Fousseni Diabate was not enough for the hosts to claim something from the game.
That victory on Monday was Alfons Groenendijk's side's first away win of this campaign, and those three points helped the side move three points away from the relegation zone.
Antalyaspor have only kept two league clean sheets this season, so conceding that late penalty last time out would have been a frustration for Groenendijk, and they come up against a side who have shown confidence in front of goal this season.
However, in recent games Altay have only managed to score one goal per game in their last four league outings, which has cost them results, having drawn one and lost three in that time.
Mustafa Denizli's side also had a comfortable day at the office in the Turkish Cup last week, beating third-tier side Belediye Derince 5-1 at the Bornova Aziz Kocaoglu Stadium.
Last time out, though, Altay were held to a 1-1 draw in the Super Lig against Sivasspor, with Daouda Bamba quickly equalising for Altay after Mustapha Yatabare had initially given the visitors the lead.
Altay have been slightly weaker away from home than they have been on their own patch this season, but Antalyaspor's home form is not brilliant having lost 50% of their league matches on home soil.
The only stat to really split these two sides at the moment is that Altay have scored four more goals than Antalyaspor this campaign, having both conceded 17 goals in 11 matches this season, suggesting that Saturday's encounter will be a tight affair.
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Team News
Defensive midfielder Andrea Poli is nearing a return to action for Antalyaspor after sustaining a muscle injury last month, but he is unlikely to be fit enough to start and could have a place on the bench.
Youngster Dogukan Nelik is a certain absentee for the hosts this weekend as he continues to suffer with a cruciate ligament injury, but apart from that, Groenendijk has a full squad to pick from.
The home side will lineup with a defensive trio like they have done for their last three league matches, and that line will be made up from Fedor Kudryashov, Naldo and Veysel Sari.
Three players will be missing for Altay on Saturday, including Martin Rodriguez, Mohammad Naderi and Murat Akca, as they all continue to recover from injury.
Bamba has scored in two consecutive league games for Altay and he will be looking to make that three in three outings on Saturday, continuing to be the visitors' top goalscorer this campaign.
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Boffin; Kudryashov, Naldo, Sari; Vural, Fredy, Akyol, Balci; Sinik, Ghacha; Bayrakdar
Altay possible starting lineup:
Lis; Bjorkander, Ozturk, Thiam, Karayel; Gulselam, Poko; Bamba, Pinares, Kappel; Rayan
We say: Antalyaspor 1-1 Altay
Both teams are likely to get on the scoresheet on Saturday, with neither defensive record suggesting that a clean sheet for either side will occur.
Having both not lost after their cup triumphs, both Antalyaspor and Altay will not want to lose this outing as they attempt to put together a string of unbeaten results.
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 Antalyaspor win with a probability of 42.44%. A win for Altay had a probability of 31.17% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for an Antalyaspor win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.79%) and 2-0 (7.57%). The likeliest Altay win was 0-1 (8.95%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.54%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Antalyaspor in this match.
