Two sides looking to make a late push for a playoff spot go head to head in the Eastern Conference when New England Revolution play host to DC United on Saturday.
Having lost their last five visits to the Gillette Stadium since a 1-1 stalemate in May 2019, the Black-and-Red will head into the weekend looking to get one over the hosts and move level with Toronto FC in the play-in places.
Match preview
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New England Revolution were sent back down to earth in their late push for post-season football as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Houston Dynamo when the two sides squared off on Wednesday evening.
In an action-packed contest at the Shell Energy Stadium, Ezequiel Ponce and Erik Sviatchenko scored either side of Carles Gil's 54th-minute equaliser to fire Houston Dynamo to a hard-fought victory.
Prior to that, New England Revolution snapped their run of five back-to-back games without a win on September 29, when they edged out Nashville 1-0 on home turf courtesy of an 89th-minute strike from Brandon Bye.
This poor run of results has seen the Revs' quest for a second consecutive playoff spot come under serious threat as they currently sit 14th in the Eastern Conference table, albeit with one game in hand.
Caleb Porter's men will be backing themselves to return to winning ways this weekend as they take on an opposing side against whom they are unbeaten in 15 of their last 20 encounters, claiming 11 wins and five draws since May 2008.
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DC United, on the other hand, turned in a fine show of fighting spirit to keep their hopes of securing post-season football alive on Wednesday night when they picked up a thrilling 4-3 victory over Nashville at Geodis Park.
A brace from Alex Muyl and a 45th-minute strike from Hany Mukhtar put Nashville 3-1 up heading into the final 10 minutes of the game, but Christian Benteke pulled one back for the visitors in the 76th minute before Gabriel Pirani scored two stoppage-time goals to turn the game on its head.
DC United are now unbeaten in five of their last six MLS matches — picking up three wins and two draws since the start of September — having failed to win 12 of their 14 games preceding this run.
With 37 points from 32 matches, Troy Lesesne's men are currently 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, level on points with Philadelphia Union and ninth-placed Toronto FC in the second of the two play-in spots.
Next up for DC United is a trip to the Gillette Stadium, where they are on a five-game losing streak and have failed to win their last 14 visits, losing nine and claiming five draws since a 2-1 victory in April 2012.
Team News
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New England Revolution will take to the pitch without the services of 24-year-old defender William Sands, who has missed each of the last five matches through a leg injury.
He is joined on the club's injury table by Argentine forward Tomas Chanclay, who has been sidelined since picking up a knee injury against New York City FC back in May.
As for DC United, Lesesne will be unable to call upon the services of 27-year-old defender, Lucas Bartley, who is currently suspended after both the yellow card threshold with his bookings against Nashville in midweek.
On the injury front, the Black-and-Red remain without several players down the spine of the team, including Conner Antley (knee), David Schnegg (calf) and Jackson Hopkins (ankle).
Teenage defender Matai Akinmboni has missed each of the last six games since coming off with an ankle injury against Dallas in August and will also play no part in this weekend's matchup.
With his strike against Nashville, Benteke now has 22 league goals under his belt, three more than any other player in the league, and the 33-year-old striker will be one to keep an eye on.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Ivacic; Bye, Arreaga, Romney, Miller; Polster, Abdullahi; Langoni, Gil, Bajraktarevic; Wood
DC United possible starting lineup:
Bono; Herrera, Mcvey, Bartlett, Peltola; Stroud, Badji, Rodríguez, Klich; Ku-DiPietro, Benteke
We say: New England Revolution 2-3 DC United
Given the importance of Saturday's clash in their bid for a playoff spot, we anticipate a thrilling contest at the Gillette Stadium as both sides go all out in search of maximum points. DC United picked up a morale-boosting comeback victory in midweek and we are backing them to come away with all three points against the out-of-sorts hosts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
