Football Bet of the Day: Besiktas can best old rivals

Besiktas v Galatasaray
Sunday 16:00

In Italy yesterday, Spezia failed to produce anything special. They went to Torino and drew 0-0 to leave us well short of our goals target.

Our week finishes in Turkey where we're looking for a winner from this afternoon's Istanbul derby between Besiktas and Galatasaray. The hosts are W4-D1-L0 in this fixture through the last five Super Lig seasons and we think they're generously priced to take all three points today.

Besiktas are top of the table, having won all of their last six home games. The opposition has not been of Galatasaray's quality (none of those visitors are now higher than 10th in the table) but the margin of the victories makes a statement: the hosts have won by an aggregate 20-2. Since Sergen Yalcin took charge midway through last season, the Black Eagles have won 11/15 at Vodafone Park.

Fatih Terim's Galatasaray are W5-D0-L3 on the road this term. Take out a couple of victories over bottom-six teams and they are an even W3-D0-L3. None of those opponents are currently higher than seventh, so Besiktas will be a stiffer test than the one they have already been regularly failing this season. Since Terim took charge in the 2017/18 campaign, Gala are W1-D6-L5 visiting teams that finished in the top six, with the sole win coming back in 2018. With due respect for those draws, we will take today's hosts at 0 on the Asian Handicap. If Besiktas win, we win. If it's a draw, we have the safety net of our stake returned.