Kasimpasa welcome Samsunspor to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium on Sunday for a Turkish Super Lig encounter between a home side enjoying a relatively steady start to the campaign and visitors desperate to find a way out of their slump.

The hosts have lost just once in their opening seven league matches, while the visitors arrive having suffered five defeats in their last six games.

Match preview

Kasimpasa's most recent outing ended in a 3-1 defeat away to Galatasaray, where they conceded twice late in the game after Jesurun Rak-Sakyi had drawn them level despite the hosts playing with a man advantage for more than 25 minutes.

Despite that setback, Emre Belozoglu's side have made a respectable start to the season, collecting 10 points from seven matches to sit ninth in the table.

However, the Apaches will be keen to turn some of their draws into victories, having shared the points in four of their seven league games, while they are also still searching for their first home win of the campaign.

Kasimpasa have drawn all three matches at the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium so far, coming from behind to secure a 1-1 draw with Trabzonspor and scoring a late equaliser in another 1-1 stalemate against Istanbul Basaksehir, while they were also involved in a 2-2 draw at home against Amed SK.

Nevertheless, the hosts will see Sunday's encounter as an opportunity to end a run of two consecutive home defeats against Samsunspor, while they have also failed to win either of their last two meetings overall, recording one draw and one defeat.

Samsunspor, meanwhile, have endured a difficult start to the campaign, suffering a 3-0 home defeat to Trabzonspor last time out despite their opponents playing with 10 men for more than 45 minutes, as Ernest Muci, Chibuike Nwaiwu and Franculino all scored before half-time.

That result extended Samsunspor's poor run to five consecutive league defeats and ultimately cost Thorsten Fink his job.

The club have since appointed Nenad Bjelica, who has signed a contract until the end of the 2026-27 season, with an option to extend for a further year.

Bjelica previously managed Trabzonspor in 2023 and has also coached Dinamo Zagreb, Union Berlin, Osijek and Lech Poznan — he will be hoping to make a positive start to his tenure at a ground where Samsunspor have enjoyed success in recent seasons.

Sitting just above the bottom of the table with four points, Samsunspor are under considerable pressure to turn their season around; however, there is some encouragement to be found in their away form, as their only league victory so far came on the road, a 2-0 win over Caykur Rizespor in their first away game of the campaign.

Kasimpasa Turkish Super Lig form:

Kasimpasa form (all competitions):

Samsunspor Turkish Super Lig form:

Team News

Kasimpasa are expected to be without Kamil Ahmet Corekci, who is recovering from an Achilles tendon problem and is not expected to return until November.

Mortadha Ben Ouanes is also a doubt with a muscle injury, but the Apaches otherwise have most of their squad available for this fixture.

Adrian Benedyczak, the team's leading scorer with four Super Lig goals, will be hoping to end a run of two matches without finding the net when he is expected to lead the line again.

For Samsunspor, Jaures Assoumou is expected to remain sidelined with a muscle injury, while Celil Yuksel is a doubt after leaving the defeat to Trabzonspor with an injury before the half-hour mark.

Summer signing Mohamed Bayo is still searching for his first goal and will hope to break his duck if he leads the line for the visitors on Sunday.

There is also some uncertainty surrounding Samsunspor's starting line-up, as this will be Bjelica's first match in charge and changes could be made.

Kasimpasa possible starting lineup:

Gianniotis; Winck, Mouanga, Ilie, Karapo; Demirbay, Baldursson; Rak-Sakyi, Mendes, Kol; Benedyczak

Samsunspor possible starting lineup:

Kocuk; Mendes, Cift, Guarino, Tomasson; Watt, Kayan; Coulibaly, Kilinc, Sekongo; Bayo

We say: Kasimpasa 1-0 Samsunspor

Kasimpasa's stronger start to the season and Samsunspor's recent struggles make the hosts the more convincing choice. 

However, Kasimpasa have not been clinical enough to suggest they will win comfortably, so a narrow home victory looks the likeliest outcome.

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