Round nine of the 2024 Major League Soccer League season sees Los Angeles FC and New York Red Bulls face off at the BMO Stadium on Sunday.
Both teams had to make do with a share of the spoils last time out and will be looking to go one step better in this weekend's encounter.
Match preview
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Los Angeles FC played out a thrilling 2-2 stalemate against Portland Timbers when the sides went head-to-head at Providence Park on Sunday.
Steve Cherundolo's men trailed 1-0 and 2-1 to strikes from Felipe Mora and Evander but managed to draw level on both occasions through Mateusz Bogusz.
As a result, the Black and Gold have dropped to sixth place in the Western Conference of the MLS table, albeit only four points behind their city rivals LA Galaxy at the top of the pile.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have been beaten in each of the last three meetings after winning the first edition of this fixture.
Having picked four wins and one draw from their last five home matches, Sunday's hosts are flying in front of their fans and will take some stopping here.
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New York Red Bulls showed great spirit to come away with honours even from their meeting against Chicago Fire at the Red Bull Arena on Sunday.
Sandro Schwarz's men played the majority of the game with a numerical disadvantage following Andres Reyes's red card, but they put on a solid defensive display in the second half to secure a point.
With 15 points picked up from their eight matches so far, the Bulls sit second in the Eastern conference, level on points with leaders Inter Miami despite playing one game fewer.
Unbeaten in four of their last five away matches, Sunday's visitors have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack on the road of late.
Team News
Lorenzo Dellavalle is currently nursing a knee injury and will not feature for Los Angeles FC here, while David Martinez is yet to recover from a back problem.
Midfielder Eduard Atuesta will serve a one-game suspension this weekend after he was recently shown his fifth yellow card of the season.
New York's Andres Reyes is ineligible to participate in this one, having received his marching orders in the draw against Chicago Fire.
The away side will also be without Cory Burke and Serge Ngoma through groin and knee injuries respectively, but the former is drawing increasingly closer to a return.
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Hollingshead, Long, Murillo, Palencia; Sanchez, Tillman, Kamara; Bouanga, Bogusz, Olivera
New York Red Bulls possible starting lineup:
Coronel; D. Nealis, Duncan, Eile, Tolkin; Carmona, Amaya, Stroud, Forsberg; Morgan, Vanzeir
We say: Los Angeles FC 2-1 New York Red Bulls
Goals have been a constant feature of this fixture, and we expect that trend to continue here. We are also expecting Los Angeles to carry the day, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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