Having enjoyed mixed fortunes last time out, San Jose Earthquakes and Columbus Crew face off at the PayPal Park in round two of the 2022 Major League Soccer season on Saturday.
The home side fell to a 3-1 defeat in their season opener, while the visitors will be aiming to pick up where they left off following a 4-0 victory.
Match preview
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Columbus Crew got their MLS campaign off to a superb start as they breezed past Vancouver Whitecaps in style at the Lower.com Field on Saturday.
Firs-half goals from Miguel Berry and Derick Etienne put Caleb Porter's men in cruise control after which Luis Diaz and Lucas Zelarayan sealed the deal in the second period.
Unsurprisingly, The Black and Gold currently lead the way in the Eastern Conference standings ahead of their trip to California this weekend.
Awaiting them is an opposing outfit who have won just one of the last five meetings between the teams, suffering a 4-1 defeat in the most recent encounter back in 2020.
Off the back of three clean sheets in four outings since the turn of the year, Saturday's visitors are looking solid at both ends of the pitch and will feel confident of coming out on top in this one.
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San Jose Earthquakes were largely underwhelming and simply no match for New York Red Bulls when the sides went toe to toe on Sunday.
Matias Almeyda's men went behind to Patryk Klimala's opener on the stroke of half time but rallied in the second half to draw level through Javier Lopez before strikes from Omir Fernandez and Tom Barlow decided the contest.
The Goonies are now on a run of one win in five league games dating back to last season and will need to get back on track as soon as possible if they are to improve on their 10th-place finish last time out.
Saturday's hosts follow up this weekend's clash with a trip to Philadelphia Union in round three, while the away side entertain the challenge of Toronto FC.
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Team News
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Thirty-one-year-old Kevin Molino is yet to fully recuperate from a long-term knee injury and will play no part for Columbus Crew on Saturday.
Molino is joined on the treatment table by American defender Josh Williams, who sat out his side's curtain-raiser last time out due to a muscle injury.
With six goals in his last six appearances at club level, Lucas Zelarayan will fancy himself to continue his hot streak in front of goal.
San Jose's Shea Salinas has not featured since last October when he damaged his knee in a 1-1 stalemate versus Vancouver Whitecaps.
Nathan Cardoso pulled up 21 minutes into the home team's last outing and is a huge doubt for this weekend's contest as a result.
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Calvo, Yueill, Beason; Lopez, Remedi, Gregus, Cowell; Espinoza, Monteiro, Ebobisse
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Room; Moreira, Mensah, Degenek, Santos; Artur, Nagbe, Zelarayan; Yeboah, Berry, Etienne
We say: San Jose Earthquakes 1-2 Columbus Crew
Columbus Crew could not have asked for a better start to their league campaign and will be looking to continue in the same vein this weekend. We are tipping them to carry the day, albeit by only a narrow margin.
Top tip
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 San Jose Earthquakes win with a probability of 45.16%. A win for Columbus Crew had a probability of 30.18% and a draw had a probability of 24.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a San Jose Earthquakes win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.24%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.22%) and 2-0 (7.34%). The likeliest Columbus Crew win was 0-1 (7.29%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.59%). The actual scoreline of 3-3 was predicted with a 1.3% likelihood.
