Başakşehir out to break the Kadıköy jinx against Fenerbahçe

Last year's runner-up Medipol Başakşehir will visit Fenerbahçe, another title contender, on Sept. 9 in the highlight game of the weekend at the Turkish Super League in a bid to break the jinx against its city rival.

The host, which made a bad start to the season before achieving its first win last week against Gençlerbirliği, has dominated all home games against Başakşehir so far, winning all the last eight games. 

"We will play against a very valuable team," Başakşehir coach Abdullah Avcı told state-run Anadolu Agency in an interview before the league resumes after FIFA 2018 qualification campaigns.

"Our seven players were with their national teams and now they are back. But we worked hard with the remaining players," he said.

Fenerbahçe is looking for a breakthrough, Avcı said. 

"We considered all the details, I hope it is going to be a good game," he added. 
 
The Canaries are a team still in the making under new coach Aykut Kocaman, a former striker and coach at the Istanbul club, and looking for ways to harmonize with its new players, including French attacker from Olympique Lyon Mathieu Valbuena and Spanish striker from Villareal Roberto Soldado, but it has already lost blood in the domestic campaign and has been knocked out of the Europa League due to a 4-1 aggregate loss against Macedonian underdog Vardar.

The team still had more to come on board before the summer transfer window closes on Sept. 8. 

The club said in a statement on Sept. 7 that it shook hands to hire Vincent Janssen, the Dutch striker of Tottenham Hotspur, and he would sign an official contract. 

Defending champion Beşiktaş, meanwhile, will visit Kardemir Karabükspor earlier in the day.

The injuries of two...