Trabzonspor vs Akhisarspor
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Today’s free tip is in the Turkish Super Lig encounter between Trabzonspor and Akhisarspor.
I’ve been burnt by Trabzonspor in recent times. They’ve burn themselves more often, though, struggling to deal with Onazi’s absence in the middle of the park. He’s still out today, unfortunately, which does make it risky to back them. They just seem to lose their shape and organisation without the Nigerian. Still, as always, there’s method to the madness with my tip. Basically, Akhisarspor has a lot more problems than Trabzonspor.
Onazi isn’t the only one out for the hosts, though. Portuguese ‘defender’ Pereira and highly promising winger Omur join him on the sidelines, both of which are usually regulars. Again, not ideal absentees for this match but Trabzonspor has more quality in its squad than three players. Colombian forward Rodallega is having a great campaign, for example, and Nigerian winger Nwakaeme has proven he can manage the step up from Israeli’s Ligat Ha’al to Turkey’s Super Lig very well indeed. Ghanaian forward Ekuban is not my favourite of players but he’s a big target man, thus presenting Karaman’s men with an alternative to simply moving the ball swiftly. Sosa is a fantastic playmaker, Amiri is a good player, and Yazici has had a good campaign too. As I said – Trabzonspor at least has other options.
When it comes to Akhisarspor, though, there aren’t good backup options. It was hard enough for them to replace impressive Ukrainian striker Selezynov after he fell out with the club. Bringing in big Albanian Cikalleshi was about the best they could do but given that he’s out today, that’s going to be inconvenient for the visitors. Joining him on the sidelines is arguably Akhisarspor’s most dangerous attacker – Manu. Never mind inconvenient; that’s a huge problem for Akhisarspor. Still, that’s only the tip of the iceberg here.
Star defender Yumlu has been out for months. I’ve not heard anything about him for this game but I’m going to assume he’s still out too as there’s nothing to suggest otherwise. Number one goalkeeper, Fatih Ozturk, is out. Their most consistent player is Portuguese midfielder Josue; he’s out too. His fellow midfielder, Vural, is also out. Honestly, I don’t know how boss Kahyaoglu is going to put even a decent squad out here. I mean, Barbosa’s threat is well-known, and new signing Rotman is a very good player at Super Lig level but there are far too many very important players out for struggling Akhisarspor for them to be even considered likely to avoid defeat in Trabzon today.
Really, this game is Trabzonspor’s – if they want it enough. I won’t deny that the attitudes of their players sometimes frustrates me because I know they’re a very capable side. Nonetheless, they’ve got enough quality to win this game, they’re excellent at home, and they really couldn’t hope to face a weaker Akhisarspor than this. In my opinion, there’s no good excuse for Trabzonspor failing to clear the -1 Asian Handicap today, hence the tip.
Verdict: Trabzonspor to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 9/10.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Argentinian Superliga:
Godoy Cruz de Mendoza vs Rosario Central
Newell’s Old Boys vs Talleres de Cordoba
Colon de Santa Fe vs Racing Club Avellaneda
Boca Juniors vs San Lorenzo de Almagro
Australian A-League:
Central Coast Mariners vs Wellington Phoenix
Bulgarian A PFG:
Lokomotiv Plovdiv vs Duanv 2010
Etar vs CSKA Sofia
Croatian Prva Liga:
Slaven Koprivnica vs Hajduk Split
Istra 1961 vs Gorica
Czech Republic HET Liga:
Karvina vs Bohemians 1905
Mlada Boleslav vs Marila Pribram
Zlin vs Dukla Prague
Opava vs Slovacko
Sparta Prague vs Viktoria Plzen
Danish Superligaen:
Vejle vs Vendsyssel
English Premier League:
Crystal Palace vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Cardiff City vs West Ham United
Huddersfield Town vs Bournemouth
Leicester City vs Fulham
Newcastle United vs Everton
Southampton vs Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester City vs Watford
Estonian Meistriliiga:
Trans Narva vs Kuressaare
FCI Levadia Tallinn vs Tallinna Kalev
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Strasbourg vs Olympique Lyonnais
Amiens SC vs Nimes Olympique
Dijon FCO vs Stade de Reims
AS Monaco vs Girondins de Bordeaux
German Bundesliga:
Bayern Munich vs VfL Wolfsburg
Bv09 Borussia Dortmund vs VfB Stuttgart
RB Leizpig vs Augsburg
SC Freiburg vs Hertha Berlin
Mainz 05 vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
German Bundesliga 2:
Koln vs Arminia Bielefeld
Jahn Regensburg vs MSV Duisburg
Darmstadt 98 vs Holstein Kiel
Erzgebirge Aue vs Paderborn 07
Hungarian Liga 1:
Paksi SE vs Vidi
Varda SE vs Budapest Honved
Szombathelyi Haladas vs Ujpest
Diosgyori VTK vs Puskas FC
Debreceni VSC vs Mezokovesd-Zsory
MTK Budapest vs Ferencvaros
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Ironi Kiryat Shmona vs Maccabi Haifa
Hapoel Haifa vs Hapoel Ra’anana
Hapoel Hadera vs Maccabi Netanya
Beitar Jerusalem vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Italian Serie A:
Parma vs Genoa
Chievo Verona vs AC Mila
Italian Serie B:
Cosenza vs Brescia
Lecce vs Foggia
Cittadella vs Pescara
Spezia vs Padova
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Kauno Zalgiris vs Palanga
Panevezys vs Zalgiris Vilnius
Dutch Eredivisie:
VVV Venlo vs Excelsior Rotterdam
PSV Eindhoven vs NAC Breda
ADO Den Haag vs Heerenveen
Willem II vs De Graafschap
Portuguese Liga 1:
Maritimo Funchal vs Moreirense
Sporting Braga vs Vitoria Guimaraes
Boavista vs Sporting Clube de Portugal
Portuguese Liga 2:
Famalicao vs Sporting Braga II
SL Benfica II vs Pacos de Ferreira
FC Porto II vs Leixoes Matosinhos
Russian Premier League:
Krylya Sovetov Samara vs Yenisey
CSKA Moscow vs Rubin Kazan’
Spanish Primera Liga:
Deportivo Alaves vs Eibar
Atletico Madrid vs Leganes CF
Barcelona CF vs Rayo Vallecano de Madrid
Getafe vs Huesca
Swiss Super League:
Grasshopper Zurich vs Young Boys Bern
Neuchatel Xamax vs Sion
Swiss Challenge League:
Lausanne Sport vs Aarau
SC Kriens vs Rapperswil-Jona
Turkish Super Lig:
Ankaragucu vs Bursaspor
Trabzonspor vs Akhisarspor
Istanbul BB vs Fenerbahce
Enjoy your free betting tips!