Turkey vs Bulgaria Prediction: Clean sheet to evade Crescent-Stars again

Turkey's task against Bulgaria on Saturday (17:00 GMT, Amazon Prime Video) is simple: avoid defeat, and they will secure a top-two finish in Group E of Uefa's World Cup qualification campaign. Second place earns a play-off spot, but they can still overtake Spain in first and qualify directly for next year's finals in Canada, Mexico and the USA, so the Crescent-Stars will surely be out for all three points at Timsah Arna in Bursa, especially as their opponents have lost all four games so far.

Below are my Turkey vs Bulgaria predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

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Team News

Eren Elmali (Galatasaray), Isak Vural (Pisa) and Ayberk Karapo (Manisa) have all withdrawn from the Turkey squad due to injury.

Still, stars such as Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan), Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) and Arda Guler (Real Madrid) appear fit to start on Saturday, so Vincenzo Montella shouldn't be too perturbed.

Football Odds

Bulgaria have also seen three players - Petko Hristov (Spezia), Anton Nedyalkov (Ludogorets) and Radoslav Kirilov (Levski Sofia) - pull out of camp due to injury.

Captain Kiril Despodov (PAOK) is available, though, and he will be expected to play a key role for the visitors this weekend.

Turkey vs Bulgaria Odds

Turkey are huge favourites to win on Saturday, with odds of 1/14 implying a 93.3% probability of success, while Bulgaria are 28/1, or a 3.4% chance, to get off the mark in Group E with a victory in Bursa.

The draw is priced at 10/1, both teams to score at 13/8, and over 3.5 total goals at 10/11.

Anytime Goalscorer - Kenan Yildiz (TUR) @ 1/1

Yildiz is Turkey's top scorer in qualifying with three goals, and two of those strikes came in the Crescent-Stars' 6-1 victory over Bulgaria in Sofia last month.

The 20-year-old found the net three days later, too, in his country's 4-1 win against Georgia in Kocaeli.

Today's Football Fixtures

Yildiz has only scored once for Juventus since the October international break, in a 3-1 success against Udinese on October 29, but back in Turkey colours on Saturday, I expect him to return to the scoresheet.

Considering he bagged a brace in the reverse fixture, EVS for him to score anytime is probably fair.

Match Result & Both Teams to Score - Turkey & Yes @ 21/10

Turkey have won three of their four qualifiers so far, but in all three victories, they failed to keep a clean sheet.

Montella's men have now failed to record a shutout in any of their last five internationals, and for the calendar year, it's just one clean sheet in eight.

Bulgaria have scored just once in Group E, but that goal came against Turkey in last month's reverse fixture.

Despite the gulf in quality between the two teams, you always suspect Turkey's opponents have a chance of breaching their backline, so at 21/10, I'm taking a home win and both sides to score.

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