Columbus Crew will aim to overtake Nashville SC in the MLS Eastern Conference when the two teams meet in Ohio on Wednesday.
The Crew are currently sixth in the Eastern Conference table, two points behind the Tennessee outfit in fifth, and both sides will head into the game off the back of victories.
Match preview
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Columbus Crew's 2-1 win against New York City on Saturday, courtesy of goals from Darlington Nagbe and Lucas Zelarayan, was their first victory in five matches.
Eloy Room was the standout performer in goal with a number of crucial saves to preserve their lead, and it is little wonder that no team in the Eastern Conference has conceded fewer goals than the Crew (12) and only overall leaders Seattle Sounders (eight) have let in fewer in MLS in 2021.
Caleb Porter's side are yet to lose a home match so far this season, winning three and drawing one at the Historic Crew Stadium before moving to Lower.com Field at the start of this month where they have won one and drawn one.
The Crew also won both games against Nashville last season, including the playoff quarter-final as Pedro Santos and Gyasi Zardes struck in a 2-0 extra-time victory.
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The Tennessee outfit have got stronger since then though and are taking their second MLS campaign in their stride; they are only five points behind Eastern Conference leaders New England Revolution with a game in hand.
Nashville recorded the biggest win in their history on Saturday, thrashing Chicago Fire 5-1. Hany Mukhtar netted a hattrick inside the first 16 minutes, the fastest treble in MLS history, with CJ Sapong and Brian Anunga also getting on the scoresheet.
It means that only New England Revolution (23) have scored more goals in the Eastern Conference in 2021 than Nashville (21).
Gary Smith's side have lost only one of their 13 games so far, fewer than any other side, but they are also yet to record successive victories and have drawn a league-high seven matches.
This will be only Nashville's fourth away match of the season, but they are yet to win on the road – drawing against Real Salt Lake and Atlanta United and losing to New York Red Bulls on their previous trips.
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Team News
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Columbus Crew are currently dealing with several absences, including Liam Fraser, Kevin Molino, Gyasi Zardes, Derrick Etienne and Luis Diaz who are all at the Gold Cup with their respective nations.
Milton Valenzuela, Artur and Josh Williams are all sidelined through injury, but Harrison Afful is back from suspension and Bradley Wright-Phillips made his first appearance in nearly two months against New York City.
Lucas Zelarayan's strike on Saturday was his fourth free-kick goal of the season – the same as David Beckham's tally in 2012 and two shy of Sebastian Giovinco's single-season record.
After such a convincing win last time out, Gary Smith could name an unchanged Nashville side on Wednesday.
Like their opponents, Nashville have players away at the Gold Cup - Walker Zimmerman (USA), Alistair Johnston (Canada) and Anibal Godoy (Panama).
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Room; Afful, Keita, Mensah, Francis; Hairston, Nagbe; Santos, Zelarayan, Matan; Hurtado
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Maher, Anibaba, Romney; Nealis, Anunga, McCarty, Lovitz; Leal; Mukhtar, Sapong
We say: Columbus Crew 1-1 Nashville SC
This will be an intriguing battle as the Crew's stern defence comes up against Nashville's potent attack, who will be full of confidence after thrashing Chicago Fire. It makes it difficult to pick a winner, so we are predicting an entertaining draw.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Columbus Crew win with a probability of 48.84%. A draw had a probability of 25.7% and a win for Nashville SC had a probability of 25.43%.
The most likely scoreline for a Columbus Crew win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.95%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.3%) and 2-0 (9.1%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.21%), while for a Nashville SC win it was 0-1 (8.02%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.8% likelihood.
