Fenerbahce V Gaziantep Betting Tips: Over 2.5 Goals – 19 August 2019

Fenerbahce V Gaziantep

Monday 19th August 2019 – 18:00 Kick-Off
Turkish Super Lig
Selection: Over 2.5 Goals
Odds: 8/13
Bookmaker: BetVictor

	1	X	2
	47/100	18/5	61/10

* (All betting odds displayed were correct as of 19th August 2019 at 12:40)

Preview: Following their successful promotion campaign as play-off winners, Gaziantep begin their 2019-20 Turkish Super Lig adventure with a trip to one of the country’s instantly recognisable clubs, Fenerbahce. The latter are a former league champion, on no fewer than nineteen occasions, and will seek to utilise all that pedigree in this match-up inside their Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul.

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Fenerbahce Preview – Pressure on new-look hosts to begin with a bang?

A summer of introspection took place at one of the biggest clubs in Turkey as Fenerbahce moved swiftly to right the wrongs of a nightmare 2018/19 season that was largely spent dangerously flirting with the idea of relegation, before the team staged a late recovery to spare all blushes. Not that this marked improvement in results was rewarded by the club, who spared no prisoners in their efforts to cleanse an underachieving group.

There will be no Roman Neustadter or Martin Skrtel at the basis of a leaky defence which kept just three home clean sheets all of last season, nor former France and Spain internationals Mathieu Valbuena and Roberto Soldado to languish in attack. Filling some of those voids now are David Zanka, signed from Huddersfield, and Max Kruse, the former Germany international who looks a real coup after signing on a free transfer.

In Vedat Muriqi, meanwhile, they now posses a proven goalscorer who notched 17 times in last season’s Super Lig for Rizespor. So the club have not messed around, and would appear more equipped to sustain a challenge further up the league this time around. The last campaign finished with them in sixth place although, as already mentioned, their form did gradually improve. Especially at home, where they ended unbeaten in thirteen games (W7 D6), a run stretching back to early November.

Performances in pre-season, however, were a little discouraging. Fenerbahce featured extensively in friendlies during the summer, playing no less than eight times but going their final six without managing to win. There were a couple of heavy defeats to Bayern Munich (6-1) and Real Madrid (5-3) in there, while their final warm up was against fellow Turkish opposition and saw them beaten 2-1 by Sivasspor.

Gazientep Preview – Newly-promoted side to maintain their scoring ways?

An historic moment for Gaziantep, with the club set to embark upon its maiden campaign in the Turkish Super Lig following its successful promotion last season from the second division. The fact it was achieved in a slightly unconvincing fashion, needing to prevail in the promotion play-offs after only managing to finish in fifth position, might deter some from investing much faith in them ahead of facing far sterner opposition.

However, there are a few things to like about this team. At the end of the 2018/19 league season in the league below, only eventual champions Denizlispor found the back of the net more often than Gaziantep (60, at a rate of 1.76 per game). Just over half that total was scored away from home where they plundered, on average, two a game to help them finish with more victories on their travels than back at home (away record last season: W9 D4 L4, GF34 GA16).

The club have also done their best to improve the playing squad in the summer, albeit in a more quiet and inconspicuous manner. Their big-money capture was that of Mali midfielder Souleymane Diarra, with the 24-year-old joining from French side Lens in a deal rumoured to have set them back around one million euros. Small change in today’s frivolous football climate.

One thing that does stand out is a lack of warm up matches. Just three, in fact, which is dwarfed by the eight their opponents racked up. Defeats in their first two, against Romanians Rapid Bucharesti (1-2) and fellow Turkish side Alanyaspor (4-0), was followed by a 2-1 victory over Istanbulspor at the very beginning of the month to perhaps restore a little confidence ahead of this season opener.

Betting Summary

Due to an overhaul of the squad, it is difficult assessing what to expect initially from Fenerbahce. Form towards the tail end of last season was very encouraging, winning their final four fixtures to ensure a dismal league campaign at least ended on a high in a more respectable sixth place. Form in pre-season, however, is a concern even if reading too much into friendlies can be dangerous.

There is no escaping the fact Gaziantep are here after finishing only as the fifth best team in the second division at the end of 2018/19, but this was a side that scored on a more regular base than all other sides bar the eventual champions. A lot of those goals (over half, in fact) were netted away from home. So the visitors are more than capable of posing some problems at the very least.

Fenerbahce should improve on their dire campaign last time around. With so many new faces arriving, though, it might not be smooth sailing to begin with. Results in pre-season are perhaps an early indication of this: no win in their final six friendlies, all of which featured a lot of goals. That could be the way to go here – backing goals – as visiting Gaziantep were adept at locating the net last season, particularly on their travels.