Kardemir Karabuk – Fenerbahce Prediction & Picks (14.05.2018)

Fenerbahce Istanbul still occupy the third place in the table two games before the end of the season. Despite the fact that the leading Galatasaray and the second-placed team of Basaksehir Istanbul have already won their matches of the current 33rd matchday, Fenerbahce is, at least in mathematical terms, still able to win the title. With a win against Karabükspor, one would at least pass Basaksehir, due to the slightly better goal difference, and thus snatch the coveted and financially extremely lucrative Champions League place.

The gap to Galatasaray cheat then a matchday before the end of the season still three points. Should Galatasaray lose at Göztepe, which is quite possible, Galatasaray might still have a better goal difference than Fenerbahce. However, Fenerbahce can still catch up with seven goals on goalkeeper Karabükspor and Konyaspor on the final day of the game. For Karabükspor the descent is already a long bitter truth. The club has been wearing the red lantern since the 14th matchday and thus plays at most a dignified farewell from the Süper Lig. Alone a consolation goal would be a small success against Fenerbahce. However, we believe in a significant success of the guests and have decided for a tip that this is bagged with at least four goals difference. The odds for this amount to 2.25.

Karabükspor:

For Karabükspor the season 17/18 started quite auspicious. It started with a draw and then followed even a 3-1 win against Basaksehir, which catapulted the team briefly to fourth place. After that, it was actually almost only downhill, even if you lost the first leg against Besiktas and even Galatasaray, so the defeats were quite close and against Galatasaray you shot even two goals. After that, just about all games were lost except for two wins and one draw. The last twelve games were all lost. In the last seven games Karabükspor scored only two goals and received even 18 goals, which is close to 2.6 goals per game. The average goal difference was thus about minus 2.2 goals per game. Although Karabükspor has the home advantage against Fenerbahce on his side, the record does not look much better here either. In the last seven home games Karabükspor has also met only twice, but have conceded 21 goals. Thus, the goal difference with an average of three goals conceded and less than 0.3 even scored goals per game in their own stadium even worse than the away balance.

To make matters worse, the continuing high failure rate in the squad is added. Seven players drop out. Including four injured, two suspended, as well as the suspended right-back Kerim Zengin. Thus Karabükspor alone missing three of seven midfielders in the team. Mustapha Yatabare, the team’s top scorer with six goals, moved to rival Konyaspor late last year.

Fenerbahce:

Fenerbahce’s form was really good in the last race and success proved the team under Aykut Kocaman right. On Thursday, however, Fenerbahce lost a little surprisingly the final of the Türkiye Kupasi against Akisarspor with 2: 3. Although Fenerbahce came into the game better, you could not convert the many offensive actions into countable. What Fenerbahce failed to do, Akhisarspor scored three goals better. The defeat should psychologically be a strong damper for Fenerbahce and the lost catch-up also cost a lot of strength. Only three days have the “canaries” now time to recover, to check off the defeat and to concentrate now fully on the last two games in the league. Fenerbahce was extremely successful here last time. Seven of the last eight Süper Lig games were won and against the league leaders Galatasaray one won even a 0-0 draw. Despite the inadequate chances against Akhisarspor they met twice.

In the last eight competitive games Fenerbahce scored a total of 24 times, which corresponds to a cut of exactly three goals per game. An outstanding quota. Except for the still injured midfielder Uygar Zeybek, the team is fully operational. Aykut Kocaman can thus again from the full creations. Fenerbahce’s form is thus still rising in the overall view, even though a mental and physical damper had to be accepted through the lost cup final.