Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Turkish Super Lig clash between Antalyaspor and Hatayspor, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Round 33 of the 2023-24 Turkish Super Lig season sees Antalyaspor and Hatayspor go head to head at Corendon Airlines Park on Sunday evening.
Both teams head into this one off the back of respective defeats last time out and will be looking to get back to winning ways this weekend.
Match preview
Antalyaspor fell to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat against Caykur Rizespor in Sunday’s meeting between the sides at the Caykur Didi Stadyumu.
Goals in both halves from Altin Zeqiri left Sergen Yalcin‘s men with a mountain to climb before Adolfo Gaich put the result beyond doubt late on.
Consequently, the Scorpions have moved up to ninth place in the Turkish Super Lig table and are on course for a top-half finish with six games left to play.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have recorded just one victory from the last six editions of this fixture since 2022.
Unbeaten in three straight matches on home turf heading into Sunday’s affair, the hosts will fancy their chances of securing a positive result on their own patch.
Hatayspor were beaten for the second game running following a 3-0 loss against Istanbulspor AS at the the Mersin Stadyumu on Sunday afternoon.
Off the back of a drab opening 45 minutes, second-half strikes from Florian Loshaj, Mendy Mamadou and Vefa Temel put Volkan Demirel‘s men to the sword.
With 33 points picked up from 32 matches so far, the Stars of the South sit 16th in the standings, just two points clear of relegation danger.
Having won just one of their last 16 away matches either side of the new year, Sunday’s visitors will need to get going on the road as they look to beat the drop.
Antalyaspor Turkish Super Lig form:
Hatayspor Turkish Super Lig form:
Team News
Bunyamin Balci has missed each of Antalyaspor’s last two league matches through injury and remains a huge doubt for this weekend’s contest.
Naldo could earn a recall to the starting lineup here having had to make do with a place on the bench in consecutive games leading up to this weekend.
Rayane Aabid remains a long-term absentee for Hatayspor and the forward is still a considerable way off making a return to first-team action.
Leading goalscorer Carlos Strandberg will be looking to deliver the goods once again having been on target for the away side the last time they faced this weekend’s hosts.
Antalyaspor possible starting lineup:
Leite; Vural, Ozturk, Sari, Yesilyurt; Kaluzinski, Saric, Safuri; Larsson, Van de Streek; Buksa
Hatayspor possible starting lineup:
Kardesler; Alici, Kila,a, Maksimovic, Ghoulam; Matondo, Dele-Bashiru, Pedro; Rivas, Dervisoglu, Strandberg
We say: Antalyaspor 1-0 Hatayspor
With two of the lowest-scoring teams in the division going head to head, we expect a nervy and cagey affair. That said, we just about fancy Antalyaspor to carry the day come the sound of the full-time whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.