Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s Turkish Super Lig clash between Antalyaspor and Ankaragucu, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Round 31 of the 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig season sees Antalyaspor and Ankaragucu face off against each other at Corendon Airlines Park.
Both teams emerged victorious from their respective most recent outings and will be full of confidence heading into Tuesday’s encounter.
Match preview
Antalyaspor claimed a narrow 2-1 victory over Besiktas when the teams locked horns at the Tupras Stadium in Istanbul two Saturdays ago.
Sergen Yalcin‘s men went into the break with a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Bunyamin Balci and Adam Buksa before Ernest Muci pulled one back in the early exchanges of the second half.
Consequently, the Scorpions have moved up to eighth in the Turkish Super Lig table, five points shy of Besiktas in the race for the final European spot.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose over the last eight meetings which have yielded three wins apiece and two draws.
Having let in the joint second-fewest goals on home turf this term, Tuesday’s hosts will be targeting another solid defensive display in front of their fans en route to a positive result.
Ankaragucu secured a first league win since January as they got the better of Basaksehir following a 2-1 triumph at the Eryaman Stadium on March 16.
Emre Belozoglu‘s men opened the scoring via a Tolga Cigerci penalty and wasted no time doubling their advantage through Ali Sowe after which Joao Figueiredo pulled one back to set up a frenetic finale.
With 33 points picked up from 30 matches so far, MKE currently sit 14th in the standings and have moved two points clear of the drop zone.
Off the back of four straight away defeats leading up to Tuesday’s affair, the visitors will be desperate to avoid another fruitless outing on the road.
Antalyaspor Turkish Super Lig form:
Ankaragucu Turkish Super Lig form:
Team News
Antalyaspor’s Guray Vural is set to miss a third consecutive match due to a muscle injury which he picked up in a 1-0 win over Gaziantep.
This should see 30-year-old Erdogan Yesilyurt retain his place at left back with Bunyamin Balci manning the other full-back position.
Midfielder Efkan Bekiroglu is still unfit to participate through a torn muscle and remains a guaranteed absentee for Ankaragucu in this one.
The away side will also have to make do with the absence of Ertac Ozbir whose return to action from a suspension is set to be pushed further back by injury.
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Leite; Yesilyurt, Ozturk, Sari, Balci; Kaluzinski, Safuri, Saric; Larsson, Van de Streek, Buksa
Ankaragucu possible starting lineup:
Gungordu; Uludag, Mujakic, Cankaya, Kitsiou; Cigerci, Pedrinho; Bassogog, Morutan, Chatzigiovanis; Sowe
We say: Antalyaspor 1-0 Ankaragucu
With two of the division’s lowest-scoring teams going head to head, we are anticipating a cagey affair here. That said, we are tipping Antalyaspor to just about edge out their visitors and come away with all three points in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.