Fenerbahce vs Gazisehir Gaziantep FK Predictions

Last season was something of a horror show for Fenerbahce fans, who watched their side huff and puff before eventually finishing narrowly outside of the European places. This time around, Ersun Yanal’s men will be hoping to get off to a much better start. Gaztiantep, who’ve stepped up to the top-flight having won the second-division play-offs at the end of the last campaign, will also be looking to make a positive start to life in the Super Lig.

Fenerbahce had one clear problem last term and that was a lack of goals. They weren’t amazing defensively, but still conceded less goals than all but four of the other 17 Super Lig teams. At the other end of the pitch, it was a struggle, as they scored a rather subdued 44 goals. To put that into context, the teams that Fenerbahce hope to better this term all scored more than that, with the likes of Galatasaray, Trabzonspor and Besiktas all scoring 60+.

Creativity wasn’t a huge issue for Fenerbahce, who ended the campaign with 53.24 expected goals for, which was only 6.86 less than Besiktas, who topped the expected goals for table, but getting the ball in the net certainly was. Over the summer, manager Yanal has acted by bringing in Vedat Muriqi, who impressed when scoring 17 Super Lig goals for Rizespor last term, and Max Kruse, who netted 72 goals in 216 Bundesliga appearances for Freiburg, Gladbach, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen combined. With such players, Fenerbahce should be much more lethal in front of goal.

Gaziantep have also been busy in the transfer market during the off-season, though their additions are less impressive than Fenerbahce’s. Monday’s visitors have brought in some Super Lig experience by adding Mugdat Celik from Galatasray and Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik from Kayserispor. Souleymane Diarra has also joined from French second-tier side Lens, while Raman Chibsah and Junior Morais have come in from Frosinone and FCSB respectively. However, Gaziantep still appear to be lacking in terms of top-flight experience.

In truth, this looks a relatively straightforward opening task for Fenerbahce, who really ought to improve considerably on last season’s showing.

From a betting point of view, this certainly isn’t the most appealing of fixtures, but those looking to get involved won’t go far wrong with ‘Fenerbahce to Win & Over 2.5 Goals’. The hosts, who saw an average of 3.05 goals scored at this venue last term, have added some much-needed firepower over the summer, firepower that ought to be pay dividends against a visiting side that seemingly lacks the quality to do well at this level.

‘Correct Score’ punters can try a 3-0 home win. Despite their overall offensive woes last term, creating chances and even scoring goals wasn’t often a problem at home for Fenerbahce, who with the likes of new boys Kruse and Muriqi in their forward line can punish newly promoted visitors.