Matchday four in the Turkish Super League will see Pendikspor take on Alanyaspor at Umraniye Hekimbasi Sehir Stadyumu on Saturday evening.
The hosts come into this match following a 1-1 draw against Kasimpasa last weekend, while the visitors also earned a point in their last match, drawing 0-0 at home to Hatayspor.
Match preview
Pendikspor earned promotion to the Turkish Super League for the first time in their history last season, when they finished third in the TFF First League with 67 points in their 36 league matches.
However, they began the season in the top flight in the worst possible way, as they were taken apart by Hatayspor on the opening weekend and were comprehensively beaten 5-1 by the full-time whistle.
Since then, though, they have shown excellent resilience, holding Besiktas to a 1-1 draw on the road and following up with another draw against Kasimpasa, who had won their two previous matches in the league.
Osman Ozkoylu's side ended last season with nine consecutive wins at home in the TFF First League, and having picked up two hard-earned points in their last two matches, they cannot be ruled out of this one just yet.
Meanwhile, Alanyaspor will look back at last season as a tremendous disappointment, falling from fifth place in the 2021-22 season to 15th last term and ending just one point above the drop zone.
Omer Erdogan was appointed as the manager in mid-April and made a positive start to his tenure, beating Gaziantep FK 3-0 in his first match in charge, but his side only managed one win in their final five matches of the campaign and could have been relegated on the final day had Giresunspor won their last match of the season.
While they have not been incredible this season, Erdogan will likely be content with his side's performance to date as they are still unbeaten after three matches, which included a very good win over Istanbul Basaksehir on opening day.
Alanyaspor's major downfall last season was their away record, which was the third-worst in the league, with three wins, four draws and 11 losses in 18 matches on the road, and they also conceded the second-most goals in that time (43).
However, early signs suggest that they have addressed most of their defensive frailties from last season as they are one of only two sides, along with the reigning champions Galatasaray, that are yet to concede this term.
- W
- D
- D
Team News
Serkan Asan was shown two yellow cards last week against Kasimpasa and will serve his one-game suspension in this match.
Ferhat Oztorun and Ruhan Arda Aksoy are longer-term absentees and will not feature in this match, while Erdem Ozgenc should fill in at right-back in the absence of Asan.
For the visitors, Oguz Aydin's straight red against Rizespor means that he will not be eligible for selection here as he serves the second of his three-match ban.
Zinedine Ferhat and Ahmed Hassan are yet to feature this season through injury and are expected to remain sidelined for a few more weeks.
Pendikspor possible starting lineup:
Canpolat; Ozgenc, Rassoul, Welinton, Sequeira; Lusamba, Romero, Vukovic; Akbunar, Eze, Thuram
Alanyaspor possible starting lineup:
Taskiran; Augusto, Bayir, Aliti, Ozdemir; Novais, Janvier, Coelho; Eduardo, Silva, Karaca
We say: Pendikspor 0-1 Alanyaspor
While the hosts have managed a couple of important draws in their last two matches, they have had their fair share of luck, with both their goals in those matches coming by way of penalties. The visitors have been very good in defence this season, and we fancy them to keep their fourth consecutive clean sheet in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
