The often unpredictable Turkish Super Lig is back once again this week as we enter the month of February. There’s still a lot left to be determined at both ends of the table, and that much is an understatement with the league being as chaotic as ever. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be another exciting clash as Istanbulspor go head to head with Gazisehir Gaziantep.
Istanbulspor Form GuideIstanbulspor, one of the smaller clubs to stem from the city (despite their 1932 title win), did well to finish in 12th place last season. They’re historically known as a popular club in Istanbul behind the likes of Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, but based on the evidence we’ve seen this season, they’re in real trouble, and the threat of relegation looms large.
While it may have been derby day, and while they did put up a bit of a fight, Istanbulspor simply couldn’t keep up with their rivals last weekend as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat on the road against Istanbul Basaksehir.
Gaziantep Form GuideFollowing the devastating impact of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, Gazisehir Gaziantep have had to deal with a lot of adversity. Now, to kickstart 2024, they’re hoping to push forward in a brighter direction. They haven’t been overly consistent up to this point but they certainly still have a lot of fire in them, and they’ll be scratching and clawing to keep their place in the top flight.
After going 1-0 down at home to Kayserispor, Gaziantep had to dig deep. That’s exactly what they did and while their equaliser came through a fortunate own goal, it was still enough to hand them a 1-1 draw and a point.
Match PredictionBoth of these teams are struggling and while we do think this is going to be a gritty, passionate affair, we’re not entirely sure that’s going to translate into many goals. In fact, if we were pushed for a prediction, we’d suggest that we’ll be left with a stalemate draw here.
