Fenerbahce vs Konyaspor Predictions

It’s not been a straightforward campaign for one of Turkey’s premier clubs; Fenerbahce currently find themselves in a lowly 14^th place and as they’re a massive 22 points off top spot, have no chance of winning the title, which is essentially always their aim. However, after a poor result on the road last time out in the league, Saturday’s hosts regained the winning thread in the Europa League on Tuesday night, so they ought to be feeling confident ahead of this match.

Last time out in the league, Fenerbahce were poor. Away against Kayserispor, they struggled massively to get going in the final third, as they mustered just two shots on target and clocked a rather pathetic 0.35 expected goals for, while they weren’t overly secure at the back. Such an effort does not bode well. That said, their efforts on home soil have generally been useful.

When playing in front of the Şükrü Saracoğlu crowd, Fenerbahce have offered a considerable amount going forward, particularly in recent times. They’ve scored at least twice in each of their last five at home, while they come into this match having recently posted expected-goals for figures of 2.72, 2.17 and 1.85. Such numbers tell us that Ersun Yanal’s men have had few problems creating on home soil of late. Having said that, they have shown a tendency to conceded goals at home, shipping at least twice in three of their last five.

As for the visitors, well, Konyaspor have been ticking along very nicely of late. They rarely go and hand out a beating, but they’re very tough to get the better of and are seemingly good at grinding out results. Saturday’s visitors are now unbeaten in six, three of which they’ve won. Moreover, they’ve lost just one of their last seven on the road.

However, while Konyaspor haven’t often suffered defeat on their travels, recent away-day efforts haven’t been too encouraging. An expected goal difference of -1.58 suggest that they were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw away against Bursaspor in their last away match, while they’ve also been bettered in terms of expected goals in three of their last four travelling matches. Moreover, having posted expected-goals for figures of 0.41, 1.5, 0.52 and 0.64, they’re also finding it tough to create on the road, which doesn’t exactly bode well ahead of a match against a Fenerbahce side that has thrived going forward on home soil of late.

Konyaspor are not easy to get the better, there’s no two ways about that, but they lack the forward quality to go Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium and get a result. The visitors will almost certainly provide plenty of resistance, but if the hosts can attack as they have done in recent home games, then they ought to have enough about them to edge ahead, much as they did against Zenit in the Europa League on Tuesday. On this basis, ‘Fenerbahce to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ gets the nod.