Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe: Victor Gidado eyes rare win — Preview, team news, tips & H2H

Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe will be played at the Gaziantep Stadyumu on Monday evening, with Orhan Ak’s side looking to build on a morale-boosting away win as the Yellow Canaries arrive on a short turnaround from Europe, Afrik-Foot reports.

Nigerian midfielder Victor Gidado is expected to keep his place in the Gaziantep engine room after starting and playing 82 minutes in last time out’s 4-2 win at Göztepe, his fourth league appearance of the season for the Süper Lig club he joined from Slovenian side NK Bravo in January.

Fenerbahçe, meanwhile, arrive amid turmoil off the pitch. Head coach İsmail Kartal announced his resignation after Thursday’s 1-1 Champions League draw at Roma, citing the pressure of the role and a bottle thrown at him from the stands, only for club president Aziz Yıldırım to publicly refuse to accept it.

Kartal led training on Saturday and remains in charge for Monday’s trip to Gaziantep, though the uncertainty hanging over the dugout adds another layer to a difficult away assignment.

Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe match preview

Gaziantep sit sixth in the early Süper Lig table with seven points from four matches, having won two, drawn one and lost one, a solid platform built despite a coaching change inside the opening month of the season.

Orhan Ak took charge after Mirel Radoi left following a 2-1 home defeat to Rizespor in gameweek three, and the new head coach made an ideal start, winning 4-2 away at Göztepe in his first match at the helm.

Kacper Kozlowski and Deian Sorescu have each scored twice for the hosts this season.

Fenerbahçe, by contrast, head into Monday ninth on the table with six points from four games, two wins and two defeats, and face a quick turnaround having drawn 1-1 away at Roma in the Champions League just four days earlier.

Fenerbahçe have scored eight goals in their four league matches, one more than Gaziantep’s tally.

Mason Greenwood and Vedat Muriqi have both scored twice for the visitors this season, and Fenerbahçe will hope their attacking quality proves too much for a Gaziantep side that has not beaten them since December 2021.

Head-to-head record: Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe

The recent head-to-head record offers little encouragement for the hosts, with Fenerbahçe having won each of the last 12 league meetings between the two sides.

Gaziantep’s most recent Süper Lig victory over Fenerbahçe dates back to a 3-2 home win in December 2021.

Overall, across seventeen meetings in all competitions, Fenerbahçe have won fifteen times to Gaziantep’s two, with no draws between them.

Team News: Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe

Gaziantep

Gaziantep will again be without four players due to muscle injuries, with Sontje Hansen, Ali Kalın, Nazım Sangaré and Fuat Bavuk all sidelined and expected to return towards the end of September.

Serdar Dursun and Halil Dervişoğlu remain the fit options up front, while Gidado and Alexandru Maxim are expected to continue linking play in an advanced midfield band alongside Kozlowski and Sorescu, with Meleke screening the back four.

Fenerbahçe

Fenerbahçe’s absentee list includes Mert Hakan Yandaş, who is suspended, along with Amara Diouf, Marco Asensio and Jayden Oosterwolde, all unavailable through injury.

İsmail Kartal is expected to rotate given the trip to Roma, but Muriqi and Greenwood should retain their attacking berths after both scored twice this season, with N’Golo Kanté anchoring midfield alongside Mattéo Guendouzi.

Star player comparison: Victor Gidado vs N’Golo Kanté

The managers: Orhan Ak vs İsmail Kartal

Orhan Ak, born in Adapazarı in 1979, is a former Galatasaray and Turkey international defender who took permanent charge of Gaziantep this month following Mirel Radoi’s departure, and has won his only match in charge so far.

İsmail Kartal, the 65-year-old Turkish coach, returned to Fenerbahçe in June 2026 for a fourth spell in charge, having previously led the club to a second-place league finish in the 2023/24 campaign.

His start to this campaign has been overshadowed by Thursday’s resignation announcement after the Roma draw, reversed within a day by the club’s board, leaving him to prepare for Monday’s game under unusual circumstances for a manager who has just returned his side to the Champions League for the first time in eighteen years.

Tactical preview: Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe

Ak has set Gaziantep up in a 4-1-4-1 since taking over, with Meleke covering the back four and Gidado and Maxim shuttling forward to support Kozlowski and Sorescu in a compact, counter-attacking shape that punished Göztepe on the break.

Kartal’s Fenerbahçe will likely dominate possession through Kanté and Guendouzi, looking to feed Muriqi centrally while Greenwood and Aydın drift inside from wide areas, a pattern that has produced eight league goals already this season.

The unresolved situation in the away dugout is impossible to ignore, and any hesitancy or disruption in Fenerbahçe’s preparations could hand Gaziantep’s front four an opening, particularly down the flanks where Pérez and Çalhanoğlu can push forward from full-back.

📸 Günün antrenmanından fotoğraflar. #GFKvFB pic.twitter.com/hqVxMMFs2s

— Fenerbahçe SK (@Fenerbahce) September 12, 2026

Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe betting tips and predictions

Final score prediction: Gaziantep vs Fenerbahçe