Another week, another blockbuster set of fixtures from the Turkish Super Lig. It serves as one of the most intriguing top flights in all of football and as we look ahead to the second half of the campaign, there’s still a lot to get excited about at both ends of the table. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a thrilling encounter between Fatih Karagumruk and Istanbul Basaksehir.
Fatih Karagumruk Form GuideFor the last few years, Fatih Karagumruk have spent their time back at the top table in the Super Lig. Last season, they were able to finish in 7th, which they were hoping would give them a great platform to build off of - but that hasn’t quite been the case. Now, they’re attempting to fend off the threat of relegation, and there’s no guarantee whatsoever that they’ll achieve that goal.
For long spells of the game away to Samsunspor, Fatih Karagumruk were doing a great job of keeping them at bay. Then, in the 84th minute, Ercan Kara scored what proved to be the winning goal to compound the visitors' misery on Saturday.
Istanbul Basaksehir Form GuideDespite only being founded back in 1990, Istanbul Basaksehir have been able to make a real splash over the last few decades - and especially in the last couple of years. It was only back in 2019/20 that they won the Super Lig for the first time in their history, and since then, they’ve reached the final of the Turkish Cup and have really established themselves as one of the top dogs.
Sometimes, we get absolute classics in the Super Lig that we’ll be talking about for years to come. In other instances, we get games that can be described as stinkers - and that’s what happened when Istanbul Basaksehir drew 0-0 with Adana Demirspor last week.
Match PredictionWe expect the hosts to try and make this a bit more physical, whereas the visitors will try and calm things down, keep things compact and play a style that’s a bit friendlier on the eye. In terms of what is going to win at the end of it all, we’re going to back an Istanbul Basaksehir win.
