Galatasaray secured an extremely vital victory this weekend over Besiktas to not only displace the table toppers and the title favorites Istanbul Basaksehir from their spot, but also ensured that they are in the strongest position now in the title race in the Turkish top tier.

Although both Galatasaray and Istanbul are equalized on points at the moment, but the former has an advantage of a goal differential of +8 over the latter.

One of Galatasaray’s next three fixtures is actually scheduled against Istanbul and even if they draw that game and don’t drop points in their remaining two matches; that should be enough for them to be crowned the champions.

For Istanbul though, beating Galatasaray when they face them is essential because they won’t want to remain equalized with Galatasaray in terms of the no. of points. If that happens, Galatasaray’s highly superior goal differential will drive them to the title anyway.

Ahead of this weekend, Istanbul was two points clear at the top as their points’ tally read 62 after 30 games, while Galatasaray’s tally read 60 after the same no. of games, but this weekend’s action turned things around significantly as Istanbul was able to add only one to their points’ tally having been stopped on a scoreless draw by Sivasspor.

Galatasaray, on the other hand, with the help of this victory over Besiktas, enhanced their points’ tally by 3 and went past Istanbul.

Galatasaray’s victory also made sure that Besiktas which was another contender for the title remained stuck at 58 points only and unless something dramatic happens now, they are virtually out of the title race, because for them to win from here, they need both Galatasaray and Istanbul to lose two out of their remaining three matches which is not very likely.