Fenerbahce were held to a 1-1 draw against newly promoted Alanyaspor at the Sukru Saracoglu stadium, dropping into 9th place in the Super Lig table.
The Yellow Canaries were expected to cruise past an Alanyaspor side that had shipped in eight goals in their last two games and took the lead in the first half when Mehmet Topal found the back of the net.
Alanyaspor equalised mid-way through the second half thanks to a goal from Candeias and managed to hold on to a valuable point despite going down to 10 men in the last five minutes.
The league is currently tied at the top with three Istanbul sides – Besiktas, Galatasaray and Basaksehir – on 17 points. The Canaries were expected to be among the leading pack going into the start of the season but are currently eight points off the leaders.
Fenerbahce were missing a few key players in Jeremain Lens, Ozan Tufan and Moussa Sow but did have the likes of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Emenike upfront which should have been more than enough to dispatch of Alanyaspor.
The Istanbul giants could welcome back Lens going into Thursday’s clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford but Tufan will miss the tie and Sow is a doubt.
Despite getting off to a shaky start in the league Fenerbahce, are currently first in the Europa League Group A with four points from their first two games.
United have not been in the best of form domestically either and take on league high flyers Liverpool on Monday at Anfield in their final game before the Europa League clash.
