Preview: Yeni Malatyaspor vs. Besiktas - prediction, team news, lineups

Besiktas were set to travel to the Yeni Malatya Stadyumu, where they will face Yeni Malatyaspor, on Friday, but in an attempt to help the home team's pitch recover from heavy snow, the game was pushed back to Saturday.

The hosts enter this encounter in poor form, currently sitting rock bottom of the Turkish Super Lig, and will face a tough task to take any points from an in-form Besiktas side.

Match preview

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Malatyaspor travelled to Gaziantep on Wednesday and Mounir Chouiar had time to miss a penalty before the game was abandoned at half-time due to adverse weather conditions.

Last time out, Malatyaspor fell to a 2-1 defeat against Goztepe, who are not too far away from the relegation zone, which should be seen as a missed opportunity for the 20th-placed team to start to close the gap to safety.

Marius Sumudica's side have not tasted victory in the Super Lig since October, a run of 11 games without collecting three points, and they are likely to be worried about the outcome of Saturday's match given their defensive record on home soil.

The bottom-placed side have conceded 26 goals in 11 matches on their own patch, more than double the amount of strikes that they have let in on their travels.

They are currently nine points away from safety, but Sumudica will have to help his side turn their fortunes around quickly if they are to make up that deficit, and it will be difficult to start that against Besiktas this weekend.

Besiktas went through a tough run of results just after the season had started to get in full swing, but just one defeat in their last eight league games have helped them climb the table, closer to a position that they would be happy with at the end of the campaign.

Michy Batshuayi, who is on loan from Chelsea, secured Besiktas a 1-0 win by converting his penalty last time out against Fatih Karagumruk, and that was also the team's second consecutive clean sheet, something they had not managed since the beginning of this campaign.

Onder Karaveli's side need to improve their away form if they are to secure a top-four finish or even chase second-placed Konyaspor in this final section of the fixture list, and that can start with victory on Saturday.

Besiktas have conceded more goals than the teams around them in the table, so Karaveli will be keen for his side to build on the two clean sheets they have just secured in the last week to help their goal difference.

A repeat of their last result against Yeni Malatyaspor will do nicely for this weekend's visitors, who came out on top as 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture in September, courtesy of goals from Georges-Kevin N'Koudou and a brace from Batshuayi.

Team News

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Ghana international Benjamin Tetteh will soon be returning to Yeni Malatyaspor after Ghana were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations at the group stages, while Oussama Haddadi is also away on international duty in that competition, with the duo unavailable on Saturday.

Attacking midfielder Adem Buyuk received his fourth yellow card of the season while on the bench against Goztepe so he will be forced to sit out this weekend through suspension.

The home team will line up with a back five and Nouha Dicko will lead the line at the other end of the pitch, looking to add to his one goal this season and end his 13-game goal drought.

Besiktas are issued with a whole host of injuries including Ajdin Hasic, Atiba Hutchinson, N'Koudou, Mert Gunok and Umut Meras, who will all continue to be sidelined for quite some time.

Francisco Montero was shown a double yellow card against Rizespor at the beginning of January, but he made his return to the squad as an unused substitute last time out, and is likely to remain on the bench this weekend.

Karaveli could name an unchanged team to the starting 11 last time out, meaning that Souza will continue in his defensive midfield role, allowing Miralem Pjanic and Oguzhan Ozyakup more freedom further up the pitch.

Yeni Malatyaspor possible starting lineup:
Ozbir; Hafez, Awuku, Kaya, Ciftpinar, Eskihellac; Chouiar, Zeffane, Aabid, Azubuike; Dicko

Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Destanoglu; Yilmaz, Vida, Uysal, Rosier; Souza; Larin, Ozyakup, Pjanic, Ghezzal; Batshuayi

We say: Yeni Malatyaspor 0-2 Besiktas

Besiktas are strong favourites for this encounter and there is no reason why they should not travel back to Istanbul with three points and a clean sheet under their belt.

They will be boosted defensively after two consecutive clean sheets, which is why they are likely to add to that stat this weekend, and given Malatyaspor's poor defensive record, that should allow the likes of Batshuayi to flourish.

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