Week 18 brings us a match on Jan 8th where Fenerbahçe will host Galatasaray at Ülker Stadyumu Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Spor Kompleksi in a clash of these two evenly matched Super Lig teams in the ever popular İstanbul derby. The game day is forecasted to be a cloudy and cool day, with daytime temperatures of only 9 degrees, which will make playing unpleasant. In their last match, 2nd placed Fenerbahçe, recorded a 2-1 win against Antalyaspor. Haji Wright struck first for Antalyaspor in the 14th minute, but Michy Batshuayi got the equalizer for Fenerbahçe in the 55th minute But fortunately they were able to complete the comaback in the 62nd minute on a penalty goal by Michy Batshuayi. Fenerbahçe is on a hot streak lately, having won 7 of their last 10 matches, while galatasaray sits at 1st place in the tables. In their last match they recorded a 2-1 win against Ankaragücü. Taylan Antalyalı struck first for Ankaragücü in the 7th minute, but Barış Yılmaz got the equalizer for Galatasaray in the 16th minute But luckily in the 30th minute, they were able to complete the comback with a goal by Bafetimbi Gomis. Galatasaray is on a hot streak lately, with only 1 loss in their last 10 matches.
These two teams have not yet played each other this season, so it will be interesting how the match turns out. Last season Fenerbahçe won the head to head battle with 2 wins.
Both Mauro Icardi and Muhammed Aktürkoğlu have been the hottest scorers for Galatasaray in the last 5 each having scored 3 goals. Fenerbahçe’s top weapon lately has been Michy Batshuayi, who has 3 goals in the last five matches
Fenerbahçe will be without Nazım Sangare and João Pedro, while Okan Buruk’s Galatasaray squad will be without Mauro Icardi, Kazımcan Karataş and Mathias Ross Jensen.