The Turkish Super Lig Round 33 kicks off on Friday evening when Besiktas welcome Hatayspor to Tupras Stadium, looking to improve their European qualification chances.
The Black Eagles are fifth in the standings with 49 points, just one point behind fourth-placed Eyupspor, who have played one more match.
Match preview
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Besiktas are having a hard time as the season nears its end, and this poor form could hurt their chances of qualifying for Europe, especially with more teams now fighting for the last two spots.
Luckily for the Black Eagles, third-placed Samsunspor (51 points) and fourth-placed Eyupspor (50 points) are also finding it hard to stay consistent, leaving them within reach, especially with one game in hand over both teams.
However, they must be careful with sixth-placed Istanbul Basaksehir (48 points), who are just one point behind and have played the same number of matches.
After drawing 1-1 with Goztepe in their last match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are now without a win in three games, two draws and one loss, and will be hoping to end this poor run against a struggling Hatayspor team.
Besiktas are unbeaten in their last four games against the visitors, but the last two ended in draws, results that will not be good enough if they want to reach Europe this season.
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Hatayspor, on the other hand, could be relegated this weekend if they lose and the teams above them in the table win.
The Star of the South only just escaped relegation last season after getting 41 points, but this season they have struggled a lot and even if they win all their remaining six matches, the visitors will only get to 37 points, which makes survival very unlikely.
Murat Sahin's team lost 3-2 to Konyaspor in their last game after conceding a goal in the 90th minute, and that made it four straight league losses, during which they have let in 11 goals and only scored three.
Their next match is at a stadium where they have never won, having lost twice and drawn twice in four previous visits, while conceding 13 goals and scoring only three.
Team News
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Besiktas will still be without Felix Uduokhai, so Gabriel Paulista is expected to start at centre-back.
Meanwhile, Ernest Muci and Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov are still injured, while Arthur Masuaku is suspended.
Hatayspor are dealing with injuries to Lamine Diack and Cengiz Demir, leaving both of them ruled out of Friday's clash.
However, they will welcome back Cemali Sertel, Burak Yilmaz, and Gorkem Saglam from suspension.
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Terzi, Paulista, Topcu, Svensson; Hadziahmetovic, Fernandes, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Rashica, Rafa, Hekimolglu
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Bekaj; Sertel, Calvo, Kilama, Yilmaz; Massanga, Parmak; Strandberg, Saglam, Boutobba; Aboubakar
We say: Besiktas 3-1 Hatayspor
Besiktas are struggling right now, but their quality remains and the hosts will not get a better opportunity to get back to winning ways than a game against the league's second-bottom side.
We are backing the Black Eagles to win this match, and we also expect them to score more than one goal in a game for the first time this month.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.