Off the back of a first win in four outings last time out, Houston Dynamo welcome Nashville SC to the PNC Stadium on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the away side come into the clash looking to pick up a third consecutive victory across all competitions.
Match preview
© Reuters
Houston Dynamo came out on top in a narrow 1-0 triumph against lower league opposition San Antonio in the last 32 of the US Open Cup.
With the game level heading into its final knockings, Sebastian Ferreira popped up with an 87th-minute winner to send Paulo Nagamura's men through.
Prior to that, El Naranja were beaten 2-0 by DC United in their last league involvement and have now fallen outside the playoff places to eighth spot in the Western Conference standings.
Awaiting them next is a clash against an opposing side who are yet to lose any of the two previous meetings between the teams, which both came back in 2020.
However, Sunday's hosts will be confident of changing that this weekend having lost just one of their most recent eight home matches.
© Reuters
Nashville claimed a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Atlanta United at the Nissan Stadium to progress into the next round of the US Open Cup.
After being two goals down at half time thanks to strikes from Thiago Almada and Luiz Araujo, Gary Smith's men hit back through Hany Mukhtar and CJ Sapong, before Ethan Zubak completed the turnaround in extra time.
The Tennessee-based outfit also beat Real Salt Lake by two goals to nil in their most recent MLS fixture to move up to sixth place in the Western Conference.
Having amassed the most points on the road so far, Sunday's visitors set out to secure another feather in the cap away from home.
- W
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Nashville's Teal Bunbury and Josh Bauer remain sidelined due to knee injuries, while Anibal Godoy is currently nursing a muscle problem.
The away side will also be without the services of Irakoze Donasiyano, who is yet to feature this term due to a thigh injury.
CJ Sapong has scored in each of his last two outings, and the 33-year-old will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Houston's Sebastian Ferreira also comes into Sunday's game in fine form having netted five times in six outings.
Adalberto Carrasquilla will need to tread with caution as he currently sits one yellow card away from picking up number five for the campaign, which would result in a one-match suspension.
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Lundqvist, Hadebe, Parker, Zeca; Vera, Carrasquilla; Pasher, Quintero, Dorsey; Ferreira
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Maher, Zimmerman, Romney; Muyl, Leal, McCarty, Davis, Lovitz; Sapong, Mukhtar
We say: Houston Dynamo 1-1 Nashville SC
There is little to choose between the sides coming into this one which promises to be an exciting watch. We fancy the teams to match each other stride for stride over the course of the 90 minutes, giving rise to a share of the spoils.
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 Houston Dynamo win with a probability of 45.03%. A win for Nashville SC had a probability of 28.02% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Houston Dynamo win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.85%) and 2-0 (8.54%). The likeliest Nashville SC win was 0-1 (9.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.72%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Houston Dynamo would win this match.
