The New England Revolution can keep their unbeaten domestic run at Gillette Stadium intact on Saturday when they host Toronto.
New England are one of only three MLS sides without a home defeat this season following a 3-1 victory versus Orlando City last weekend, while the Reds are one of three teams who have yet to win a road fixture this year, falling 3-0 to FC Cincinnati earlier this week.
Match preview
© Reuters
After a difficult 2022 campaign, the Revs are back near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, currently sitting in third, thanks largely to their form in Greater Boston, where 21 of their 33 points have come from this season.
The Revs have started the campaign with a 6-0-3 mark on home soil, matching a club record set in 2005 and 2015 for their best beginning to a regular season at Gillette Stadium.
As we saw in their 2021 Supporters' Shield winning season, the Revs' attacking prowess has propelled them to victory numerous times in 2023, with New England notching the fourth-most goals in the league so far (31), scoring three or more in five of their home fixtures this year.
They are unbeaten in their last four meetings with Toronto in this competition and have not lost to the Reds at home since 2020 (1-0).
With 33 points after 18 league fixtures, Bruce Arena has seen his group earn eight more points than they had at this same stage a season ago when New England missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
The Revolution have not conceded an opening half goal in their last four domestic affairs and have only given up multiple strikes once at Gillette Stadium this season.
© Reuters
It was another disappointing road outing for Toronto on Wednesday as they failed to find the back of the net for a fifth time away from home this year.
That was the fourth straight domestic encounter in which Bob Bradley had seen his side drop points, putting them in 13th in the Eastern Conference, four points below the playoff line.
A Reds side that had only given up two goals domestically in March have now conceded in seven of their last nine MLS affairs.
TFC have not gone into half time with the lead in any of their away matches domestically this season, with all of their goals as the visitors coming in the final 45 minutes of play.
As good as Toronto have been at creating turnovers, they continue to make many individual errors themselves and have been made to pay for them in recent matches.
Their ball movement and pass connections have been much better, they just cannot seem to find their attacking players in dangerous scoring positions, with most of their chances over the past couple of games coming from long-range efforts.
Team News
© Reuters
Tommy McNamara is expected to miss another fixture for the Revolution this weekend as he is still suffering from a sore left leg, Nacho Gil is still having issues with his right leg, Maciel is recovering from a left Achilles problem, Henry Kessler has a right hamstring strain and Dylan Borrero is gone for the season after undergoing knee surgery.
Djordje Petrovic and Christian Makoun could be back from international duty this weekend, though DeJuan Jones will be with the United States as they open their CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign against Jamaica.
Gustavo Bou celebrated his 100th appearance last Saturday by scoring his third of the campaign, Carles Gil recorded a second successive goal and assist performance, Earl Edwards Jr made his first start of the season between the sticks, Giacomo Vrioni notched his first MLS assist, David Romney had a team-high 12 recoveries and Emmanuel Boateng started a 10th consecutive match for the first time in his Revs career.
Matt Hedges, Victor Vazquez, Hugo Mbongue, Adama Diomande, Alonso Coello Camarero and Michael Bradley missed another game for Toronto this week with lower body injuries.
Jonathan Osorio and Richie Laryea will be headed to the Gold Cup for Canada, Tomas Romero will represent El Salvador at that tournament and Sean Johnson was chosen for the US squad.
Greg Ranjitsingh made his first career start in goal for the Reds versus Cincinnati, while Cristian Gutierrez earned his first cap with the TFC first-team, replacing Kobe Franklin in the second half of that contest.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Bye, Farrell, Romney, Sweat; Buck, Polster, Boateng; C. Gil, Bou; Wood
Toronto possible starting lineup:
Ranjitsingh; Gutierrez, Rosted, Mabika, Petretta; Thompson, Kaye, Servania; Bernardeschi, Sapong, Insigne
We say: New England Revolution 3-0 Toronto
TFC have struggled to create many scoring opportunities away from home, and their backline is too inconsistent from one match to another for us to believe they will be able to shut down a side in New England with plenty of attacking threats.
How to watch
You can watch New England Revolution vs. Toronto and every MLS match this season live on Apple TV. Click here for more details on how to subscribe.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
