Turkish Football And The Dawn of a New Era
With all of the end of season excitement going on currently, the...
It’s been a while since the Black Eagles came away with all 3 points from Fenerbahçe’s Şükrü Saracoğlu stadium, in two attempts under Şenol Güneş they lost the first edition 2-0 while last season they came away with a 0-0 draw, failing to score in both games. However headed in to this season’s cracker, Beşiktaş are looking like the favourites, atleast if we take both teams’ form in to consideration. However, as often has been the case the team that may look in best shape at the time of the match, far from always comes away with a victory.
Caner Erkin returns to Şükrü Saracoğlu for the first time wearing a Beşiktaş jersey, with 5 assists in 7 games he’s been one of the most influential Black Eagles this season.
Beşiktaş are still without a natural rightback, as Gökhan Gönül isn’t fully match fit yet. Adriano Correia, who had been filling in for Gökhan in recent games, picked upa minor injury last Monday against Konyaspor and will not be risked tonight. Instead Gary Medel, who played in the centre of defence on Monday, will become the convenience rightback for tonight’s derby match.
Apart from that Beşiktaş have pretty much their full squad available with Oğuzhan Özyakup returning to the starting lineup, after missing the game against Konyaspor. Dusko Tosic also returns, after having served a one match suspension for his sending off against Karabükspor two weeks ago.
Fenerbahçe in turn are without their best defender, Martin Skrtel, who has been left out of the matchday squad due to an injury. In his place Roman Neustadter will play next to Luis Neto. Fenerbahçe is expected to lineup in an unconvential 4-4-2, as they did last week away against Alanyaspor. Carlos Kameni trumps Volkan Demirel in goal for the second week in a row.
Carlos Kameni; Mauricio Isla, Roman Neustadter, Luis Neto, Hasan Ali Kaldirim; Josef de Souza, Ozan Tufan, Mathieu Valbuena, Mehmet Ekici; Giuliano, Vincent Janssen
Fabricio Ramirez; Gary Medel, Pepe, Dusko Tosic, Caner Erkin; Atiba Hutchinson, Oğuzhan Özyakup, Anderson Talisca; Ricardo Quaresma, Cenk Tosun, Ryan Babel