Fresh from a heavy five-goal domestic defeat, Crystal Palace travel to Istanbul to face Besiktas at Tupras Stadium in the Europa League on Thursday night.

While the hosts occupy fourth spot in the 36-team League Phase standings, the visitors are down in 15th place after the first two rounds of fixtures.

Match preview

After failing to qualify for European competition last season, Besiktas have since made a positive start to their Europa League campaign this term, winning their opening two matches and scoring a joint competition-high seven goals in the process.

A statement 4-1 home victory over Marseille on matchday one was followed by a 3-2 away win against Hoffenheim last week. All five goals were scored in an eventful second half, with Oh Hyeon-gyu netting a late brace to secure maximum points.

Besiktas have won their first two games in the main stage of a UEFA competition for just the fourth time in their history, having previously done so in the 1986-87 European Cup, 2010-11 Europa League and 2017-18 Champions League.

However, Vincenzo Italiano’s side were unable to make it seven wins out of eight in all tournaments last weekend, as they fell to a 2-0 away defeat against Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super Lig, leaving them fifth in the table after eight games and four points behind leaders Galatasaray.

Seeking a swift return to winning ways, Besiktas will welcome Thursday's Tupras Stadyumu homecoming as they have won each of their last four European home matches; they have never put together a run of five straight home wins in UEFA competition.

The pressure is beginning to mount on new Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage, who harboured "only one feeling – shame” after watching his side put to the sword 5-0 by Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday, equalling the 70‑year record for the club’s heaviest defeat against their M23 rivals.

The Eagles have now lost four of their opening seven top-flight matches and have conceded the most goals in the division (17), but Sage is set to be granted more time to fix his team’s defensive issues and turn the club’s fortunes around.

Palace’s defeat at Brighton – in which they conceded three goals in the opening 10 minutes – came just a few days after they were beaten 3-2 by Sage’s former club Lyon in France on matchday two of the Europa League. Second-half strikes from Yeremy Pino and Daichi Kamada were ultimately not enough to mount a comeback.

The reigning Conference League champions did pick up all three points in their opening League Phase fixture, though, as they eased to a 4-0 home victory over Lech Poznan in their first-ever Europa League match.

Palace travel to Turkey on Thursday seeking to avoid a third straight defeat and improve their away record, having won only two of their last 11 away matches across all competitions (D3 L6), conceding at least two goals in nine of those games.

Besiktas Europa League form:

Besiktas form (all competitions):

Crystal Palace Europa League form:

Crystal Palace form (all competitions):

Team News

Besiktas winger Milot Rashica is sidelined with a hamstring injury and has been left out of the club’s Europa League squad, while midfielder Orkun Kokcu is nursing a foot injury and is targeting a return next month.

Summer signing Dusan Vlahovic has scored a team-high six goals in as many Super Lig games, but he is yet to find the net in the Europa League, missing the win over Hoffenheim due to illness. The Serbian striker will battle with Oh Hyeon-gyu for a start up front.

Former Premier League trio Leandro Trossard – who scored two goals in five PL games against Palace as an Arsenal player – Wilfried Ndidi and Emmanuel Agbadou are all strong contenders to start on the left wing, in centre-midfield and in central defence respectively.

As for the Eagles, Chadi Riad (knee) remains a long-term absentee, while Dean Henderson (foot), Ben Chilwell (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf) will all have injuries assessed after missing the defeat to Brighton.

However, Axel Disasi is available after serving a domestic suspension and he could be recalled to link up with Jaydee Canvot and Chris Richards in a three-man backline, with Oscar Mingueza hoping to displace Anan Khalaili at right wing-back.

Palace have been on the losing side in three of the last five games in which Yeremy Pino has scored, Nevertheless, the Spanish attacker could feature in the final third alongside Ismaila Sarr and Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Besiktas possible starting lineup:

Nubel; Murillo, Agbadou, Topcu, Yilmaz;, Ozcan, Ndini, Olaitan; Fakili, Vlahovic, Trossard

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:

Henderson; Canvot, Disasi, Richards; Mingueza, Timber, Wharton, Mitchell; Pino, Sarr; Strand Larsen

We say: Besiktas 2-1 Crystal Palace

Given that seven of Besiktas’ last eight games have produced over 2.5 goals and eight of Crystal Palace’s last nine matches have also seen over 2.5 goals scored, an entertaining end-to-end contest could be in store in Istanbul.

Both managers will be demanding an immediate response from their respective players following disappointing domestic defeats last weekend, but we are backing Besiktas to edge past a defensively-frail Palace outfit in front of a hostile home crowd.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.