New England Revolution and Charlotte FC will both be looking to return to winning ways when they go head-to-head at the Gillette Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat in their most recent outing, while their visitors had to make do with a share of the spoils.
Match preview
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New England Revolution suffered a 4-0 thrashing in the opening leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup tie against Club America on Wednesday.
Caleb Porter's men went into the interval trailing to strikes from Henry Martin and Alex Zendejas after which Cristian Calderon and Brian Rodriguez netted in the second half to put the result beyond doubt.
Prior to that, the Revs played out a 1-1 stalemate against Chicago Fire and remain rock bottom in the Eastern Conference of the MLS table.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost each of the most recent three editions of this fixture since coming out on top in the first-ever meeting.
Having won just one of their last five matches on home turf, Saturday's hosts will need to get going in front of their fans to address what has been a slow start to the campaign so far.
Charlotte were frustrated to have thrown away their lead late in the game as they drew 1-1 against FC Cincinnati at the Bank of America Stadium on Sunday.
Dean Smith's men opened the scoring right on the hour mark through Djibril Diani before conceding a stoppage-time leveller to Aaron Boupendza.
With eight points picked up from six matches this term, the Crowns currently sit ninth in the standings, just one point shy of the last playoff spot.
Currently on a run of one win in eight away matches either side of the New Year, Sunday's visitors have struggled on their travels of late and will be keen to turn things around.
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Team News
American duo Ben Bender and Brandon Cambridge are both ruled out for Charlotte with knee and ankle injuries respectively, while Enzo Copetti misses out with a thigh problem.
Midfielder Scott Arfield is also unavailable for the away side here due to injury, having missed the draw against Cincinnati last time out.
New England's Dylan Borrero is still out of action through a knee injury which he picked up in the early exchanges of last season.
Twenty-eight-year-old Brandan Bye remains without an appearance for the hosts this term as he continues to nurse a long-term injury.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Edwards; Jones, Romney, Kessler, Farrell; Polster, Harkes; C. Gil, N. Gil, Chancalay; Vrioni
Charlotte FC possible starting lineup:
Kahlina; Byrne, Malanda, Privett, Uronen; Westwood, Diani, Petkovic; Vargas, Agyemang, Dejaegere
We say: New England Revolution 1-1 Charlotte FC
Neither team is in particularly good form heading into this one and both will feel that a win is achievable. That said, we are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
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