On the second day of weekend we have a derby match in the 21st round of the Turkish Superliga, which will be played in Istanbul between the leading Basakhsehir and the third Fenerbahce, which currently has five points less. In addition, their autumnal defeat ended with a guest win over Basakshir with 3-2, while both teams celebrated last weekend at home and Basaksehir was at the end of the season better in the semi-finals of the Turkish Cup.
We have already said for the team of Basaksehir in the introduction that they are welcoming this match with their big city rival as leaders in Superliga, although they played only 1-1 as guests in Konyaspor. However, prior to that, coach Avici’s players had a great series of four consecutive victories, while their first companions recorded a few blunders, so at this point the second Galatasaray has two points less, the third Fener is lagging five, and the current champion Besiktas even six points.
Otherwise, Basaksehir was recently eliminated from the National Cup by Giresunspor, so they can fully devote themselves to the championship in the upcoming season and accomplishment of this long-awaited dream of the title of Turkey's champions. During the summer, they further strengthened the team by bringing Turana and Bajic for the attack, but they can only get a chance from the bench for now, while the injured striker Elia and suspended midfielder Emre will not be able to perfrom in this match with Fener.
Probable lineups Istanbul Basaksehir: Babacan – Caicara, Attamah, Epureanu, Clichy – Inler, Tekdemir – Visca, Mossoro, Napoleoni – Adebayor
When it comes to the famous Fenerbahce, they were defeated last weekend by Akhisar in the championship at the end of September, and then they recorded seven wins and six draws in Superliga, which led to the third place on the table and five points behind the leading Basaksehir. In addition, coach Kocaman's players have after a victory over Giresunspor passed in the semi-finals of the National Cup last week, where they will admeasure strengths with the current Turkish champion Besiktas.
However, we believe that all their thoughts are now focused on their championship, where their main goal is to catch up with the leading Basaksehir as early as possible and so this is an ideal opportunity for such a thing, especially since they owe it to them from the fall part of the championship when they defeated them away with 3-2. Otherwise, Kocaman could not count on defenders Ozbayrakli and Skrtel, midfielder Giuliano and striker Janssen for that match, while they during January lost their experienced striker van Persi to another team.
Probable lineups Fenerbahce: Demirel – Isla, Neto, Neustadter, Kaldirim – Topal, Souza – Dirar, Potuk, Valbuena – Soldado
Since this is this is a direct clash in the fight for the very top of Superliga, it is quite logical to expect both teams to be set fairly offensive and aiming to win, which means that there should be goals on both sides of the field.
Pick: both teams to score
1.73 - 73/100 @1XBet