Fenerbahce welcome the visitors Goztepe in the Turkish Super Lig – Round 20. The match will be held on Friday, February 1st, at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium (Istanbul).
Featuring a 3:2 win over the third-placed Yeni Malatyaspor, Fenerbahce have broken their disgraceful no-win streak of six rounds and got out from the relegation zone. Overall, the team’s performance started to improve gradually after Ersun Yanal’s appointment, and the above-mentioned win was required for the players to develop self-esteem. The visiting Goztepe from Izmir are good stimulants, as they sit two places higher, and a victory over this side will lift the hosts up in the table. Moreover, the hosting team certainly look to take revenge for the first-term 0:1 loss to Goztepe. As for the crucial Fenerbahce’s losses, the Slovak defender Martin Skrtel was dismissed in the cup encounter against Umraniyespor and was disqualified for three rounds. Of the latest contracts, the Nigerian halfback Victor Moses (former Chelsea’s player) standouts – he has already featured twenty-five minutes against Yeni Malatyaspor. In general, the hosts don’t face any squad issues – they are staffed with qualified performers; their main concern is the lack of the team spirit and the lack of dedication. There is a hope that Fenerbahce have finally tuned their play and will now start the long-awaited climbing in the league table.
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Having progressed from the lower division to the elite league in the year before last, Goztepe were a surprise in their debut season, as they took the honorable sixth place. As it often happens, however, the team featured no continuation of this success in the next campaign, and their present performance has been bleak so far. The last part of the first term was extremely bad, as Goztepe suffered four consecutive losses. As it is the case in Turkey (and not only there), the manager was to blame, and in the mid of December, the club was headed by Kemal Ozdes, but it did not bring much improvement anyway. In the start of the second term, Goztepe have already suffered two defeats, continuing their fall down. The club’s away record is especially unimpressive – of ten outings, the Izmir outfit won only over the blatantly weak Ankaragucu and quite unexpectedly did over Trabzonspor (the win goes back to September though), the other eight games were lost by a margin of 4 to 14. The guests’ weakness is their attack – in eight latest rounds, they netted only six times; that said, in five of the encounters, the opponents kept their goals locked.
Fenerbahce tasted a win, so, it will be crucial for them to build up on this. Luckily, they hold the second consecutive fixture in front of their own fans. A victory over the neighbors in the table will enable the hosts to move farther from the drop zone and сoncentrate on other tournament tasks. The team that Fenerbahce face tomorrow are very doable, as Goztepe’s away form is extremely weak. We’d better not predict a confident and flawless win by the welcoming side, as many times they brought bad surprises in this campaign, but we believe they will not miss their chance tomorrow. They are not expected to do so, at least.
Prediction for the match: Fenerbahce to win home.
