Prediction & odds for the game: Goztepe (8/11) v Rizespor (31/10)

When: Tuesday, 17th March 2020 @ 5pm K.O

Where: Gürsel Aksel Stadium

Goztepe and Rizespor will go head to head this week as Super Lig continues to be one of the only top leagues in world football still running.

The current state of world football is incredibly fluid, with multiple leagues either being cancelled or postponed as a direct result of the ongoing issues with the coronavirus outbreak. A handful of divisions have kept pushing through up to this point, and that includes Super Lig over in Turkey. Teams up and down the top flight are still battling it out for a variety of different goals – whether it be winning the title, qualifying for Europe or just fending off the threat of relegation.

Circumstances may change as the weeks go on but for now, the Super Lig is ready to provide fans with the entertainment value they’ve been missing in the last few days.

Goztepe

A recent 2-0 loss at the hands of Kasimpasa served as yet another setback for Goztepe as their slip down the Super Lig table continues. They were also beaten by in-form Istanbul Basaksehir who not only won 3-0, but also did so with only 10 men on the pitch. Prior to that they were beaten 1-0 by Kayserispor which kicked off their losing run, which occurred after a 3-1 win over Konyaspor and 1-1 draws against Denizlispor and Gaziantep.

Rizespor

A narrow 2-1 defeat against Besiktas gave this Rizespor side hope that they can push on and claw their way towards survival. Alas, a 2-0 loss to Gaziantep was another setback, as was another ‘spirited’ 2-1 defeat, this time to title contenders Istanbul Basaksehir. They were then taken to school by Trabzonspor in a 5-2 battering before drawing 1-1 against Alanyaspor and losing 2-1 to Ankaragucu.

Conclusion

We can’t picture a scenario in which Caykur Rizespor sit back and try to play for a draw, if only because they’re well aware of the consequences that stem from that. We think they’ll go right at Goztepe, but the big question is whether or not they’ve got enough in the tank to cause them enough sustained problems at the back. We can see this being a back and forth encounter with plenty of shots on goal, but in the end, these two sides will hold one another to a respectable draw.

In what we expect to be a strong defensive showing from both, we’re going to back the under 2.5 goals market, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this won’t be entertaining. They’ve both got firepower and they’ll be well aware of the pressure they’re under to put on a show, with more eyes than usual being fixed on this league.

Verdict: Back the draw at odds of 27/10 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 4/5. (All odds are taken from bet365).

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You can bet on the showdown between Goztepe and Rizespor over at the betting page, or, you can test the waters with some other selections at the soccer predictions page.