Football Bet of the Day: Back Black Sea Storm to prove too strong

• Trabzonspor were title winners two seasons ago

• Hosts are in the top three

• Visitors awful away from home

Trabzonspor v Samsunspor
Thursday 11 January, 17:00

We suffered an agonising near-miss in Italy last night, We were spot-on about Lazio edging a close game, as they won 1-0 against city rivals Roma. However, our Bet Builder was somehow nixed by Gianluca Mancini, with the Roma defender managing the almost impossible feat of getting sent off without committing a single foul.

We'll head to Turkey for our next wager, because Trabzonspor are in action against relegation-threatened Samsunspor, and I fancy the hosts to pick up maximum points.

Trabzonspor caused a stir by lifting the Turkish Super Lig title in fine style a couple of seasons ago, and they followed that up with a top-six finish last term. This season the Black Sea Storm are third, well behind the title challengers Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, but on track for a Europa League spot.

Abdullah Avci's side have had a couple of missteps recently, drawing at home against Istanbul Basaksehir and losing to Kayserispor, but the overall trends are encouraging. Trabzonspor have won four of their last five competitive matches, and at home they have won six of their last nine.

Samsunspor are in the dropzone, and although they have boosted their survival hopes by winning three of their last five in the league (the arrival of experienced German coach Markus Gisdol has provided a boost), their away form is awful. Samsunspor have lost seven of their last eight on the road.

Trabzonspor are trading at 1.84/5 to win this, which I think is very generous, given the huge gap between a top-three team and a side that was only promoted last season.

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