Turkish relegation threatened side Kayserispor will entertain the current league champions and league leaders Galatasaray at the Kadir Has Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After a direkt relegation threat last season, the Anatolian Star is in a similar position this season and badly in need of a change in fortunes as they take on the league’s only unbeaten team at home.

Following and unprecedented poor start to the league season that has seen the Turkish side register six consecutive defeats in their initial matches, the management at Kayserispor sought to bring in a change in the technical bench in the hope that this change would help change their fortunes around and indeed the change seemed to have brought positive results when it was effected in October, however of late the positive run has been punctured by a recent poor string of results.

The arrival of Sinan Kaloglu brought five games without a single loss – including the first victories in the championship along with three draws – the series was interrupted by a bitter loss to Fenerbahce, 6-2.

After that, Kayserispor has gone through some rough moments and lost three out of four recent games, Those misfortunes put the Anatolian Star at the bottom of the ranking again, with 15 points taken in 15 games and occupying the 16th place in the standings, one point and one position behind the saver, Poznan.

The latest in a string of poor results was a 2-0 loss at Antalyaspor and a difficult game against Galatasaray at home next will not bode well for the Kayseri-based team.

However, the Eagles have demonstrated signs of improvement within this fixture more recently winning two and drawing just one of their last three encounters with the Lions at home the last being a goalless draw in the month of August 2023.

For the hosts Galatasaray, manager Okan Buruk will be praying that the off pitch disagreements with Moroccan international Hakim Ziyech will not impede a brilliant season.

Dissatisfied with his position, Ziyech has openly disparaged Buruk as being of "low level" and declared his plan to depart the Super Lig winners in January, asking to be excluded from the team.

The controversy follows Galatasaray's thrilling 4-3 victory over rivals Trabzonspor at Rams Park, which maintained their undefeated record and their six-point advantage at the top of the league standings.

The potential return of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen from injury before of Sunday's match adds to the excitement and would provide a much-needed lift for the Lions, who have recently struggled to win games handily despite their stellar run.

After losing to BSC Young Boys both at home and away in the Champions League qualifiers in August, Galatasaray was relegated to the Europa League for the 2024–25 season. Since then, they have been in dominant form, winning 16 and drawing five of their last 21 games in all competitions.

The most recent Kayserispor players to miss time due to ankle problems are midfielder Arif Kocaman and goalkeeper Bilal Bayazit.

Osimhen, a talismanic striker, will look to return to the starting lineup right away after recuperating from an injury he sustained in the victory over Sivasspor, while Mauro Icardi is still healing from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Although Kartal Yilmaz and Gokhan Sazdag will return from suspension after missing the match against Antalyaspor owing to accrued yellow cards, center-back Majid Hosseini, who has not fully recovered from a knee injury, is doubtful for Sunday's match.

For the champions' visit, Kaloglu is probably going to switch back to a back five, with Joseph Attamah, Julian Jeanvier, and Lionel Carole most likely to start as center back.

Roland Sallai, a Hungarian midfielder for the visitors, has been suspended after accruing too many yellow cards.