Preview: Besiktas vs. Hatayspor - prediction, team news, lineups

Besiktas will be aiming to end a three-game winless run in all competitions when they welcome Hatayspor to Vodafone Park on Saturday.

The visitors, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their previous three matches and as a result, they head into the weekend in sixth position.

Match preview

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Besiktas reside in eighth place with a point separating them from Saturday's opponents, but what is more crucial is that they are two points adrift of the top four.

They enter Saturday's contest off the back of a 2-1 derby defeat against local rivals Galatasaray, which ended Besiktas's nine-match unbeaten league run.

The Black Eagles started poorly against Galatasaray, conceding two goals in the opening 33 minutes and although Ridvan Yilmaz scored with five minutes remaining, it proved too little too late.

Despite suffering a derby day defeat, Besiktas take a six-game unbeaten home league run into Saturday's contest, while they have lost just twice at Vodafone Park in the Super Lig this season.

Onder Karaveli's side will also look to draw inspiration from the 7-0 victory that they achieved in the home meeting with Hatayspor last season.

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The visitors, meanwhile, sit just one point outside of the top four, and they seem to be coming into form at just the right time.

Hatayspor have lost just once in their previous five matches, while three of those encounters ended in victory, including their most recent outing.

Omer Erdogan's charges made light work of Fatih Karagumruk last weekend, with a Saba Lobjanidze strike and an Ayoub El Kaabi brace helping Hatayspor to a comfortable 3-0 victory.

However, Saturday's visitors will be concerned with their recent away form, with their last five away games resulting in one draw and four defeats.

What will concern Erdogan is the fact that Hatayspor have conceded 17 goals in their previous five away matches, while they also hold the fourth-worst defensive away record in the Super Lig.

Team News

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Miralem Pjanic and Oguzhan Ozyakup are expected to miss out for the hosts due to injury issues.

The Black Eagles will be forced to change their goalkeeper, with Ersin Destanoglu suspended following an accumulation of yellow cards, which will result in a Besiktas debut for Emre Bilgin.

Michy Batshuayi has started the last two matches on the bench, but the Chelsea loanee is expected to return to the starting lineup on Saturday.

Hatayspor, meanwhile, will have to cope without the services of Sadik Bas and Adama Traore, who both miss out through injury.

Following their impressive display against Fatih Karagumruk, Saturday's visitors are expected to name an unchanged lineup.

El Kaabi will be one of Hatayspor's main goal threats after scoring six goals in his last three appearances.

Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Bilgin; Rosier, Uysal, Vida, Meras; Bozdogan, Hutchinson; Ghezzal, Teixeira, Larin; Batshuayi

Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Munir; Corekci, Sackey, Oksuz, Adekugbe; Boudjemaa, Ergun; El Kaabi, Ribeiro, Lobjanidze; Diouf

We say: Besiktas 1-1 Hatayspor

Hatayspor won the reverse fixture 1-0 and although they carry a three-game unbeaten run into Saturday's contest, away victories have been hard to come by in recent weeks.

The hosts will know that they can leapfrog their opponents on Saturday with a win, but we think they may have to settle for a point in what should be a hard-fought contest.

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