Did They Win Without Playing? Galatasaray at the Top After Kadıköy

Galatasaray had nothing to do with the derby played at Kadıköy on Saturday evening; they were not on the pitch and neither squad was theirs. But the scoreboard at the end of those ninety minutes directly affected their position at the top.

How the table changed

Galatasaray had completed matchweek four a day earlier with a 3-2 win away at Başakşehir, taking them to 10 points: a draw rescued against Çorum, then three straight wins. When that evening ended, Galatasaray's lead over Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş was identical — both were waiting on 6 points with a match in hand.

The derby at Kadıköy changed that in a single night. Beşiktaş's 2-1 win took them to 9 points, while Fenerbahçe stayed on 6. The result: Galatasaray's lead over Beşiktaş fell from four points to one; the gap to Fenerbahçe stayed at four, but this time with both sides having played the same number of matches.

What Beşiktaş won was not only three points

As we wrote in this column after the Başakşehir win, Galatasaray's biggest weakness this season has been the failure to close out the superiority they establish. The same warning now applies at the top: 10 points can look reassuring, but a win taken away from home from 1-0 down carries a conviction as well as three points. Vlahović's derby goal and Italiano's first derby win have made Beşiktaş Galatasaray's closest pursuer in the title race.

The gap opening up on the Fenerbahçe side

The picture is more complicated for Fenerbahçe. Losing this derby while 1-0 up at home has pushed the gap to Galatasaray out to four points, and both sides have now played the same number of matches. A four-point margin in matchweek four means nothing definitive, but the pressure created by a derby defeat will make every Fenerbahçe match over the coming weeks more critical still.

The FutbolRadar read

Galatasaray's position at the top looks solid on paper: 10 points from four matches. But the real truth this weekend showed is that the rivals are not eliminating each other. Beşiktaş beat Fenerbahçe, took their share and moved a step closer to the summit. The real test in front of Galatasaray will be to keep winning their own matches rather than waiting for the two big rivals behind them to stop one another. As we set out in our derby column, Beşiktaş were not the only winners at Kadıköy; the balance of the title race shifted too. The current table can be followed on the Süper Lig standings page.