Having picked up just one victory from their last five league games apiece, Inter Miami and DC United face off on Sunday.
The home team have amassed eight points from their first seven games of the campaign, two points more than their visitors.
Match preview
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Inter Miami were defeated for the second time in three matches courtesy of a 1-0 victory for Chicago Fire when the sides clashed on Saturday.
The game was level for 69 minutes before Luka Stojanovic broke the deadlock a few minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Phil Neville's men missed out on a chance to move into the playoff places, but they are currently separated from the last two spots only by goal difference.
Awaiting the Herons next is a DC United side who came out on top in the sides' only previous encounter at the Audi Field in March 2020.
Sunday's hosts are yet to claim a home win since the start of the season, and now is as good a time as any to end that barren run.
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DC United were left empty-handed for a second home game on the bounce following a 1-0 loss to Philadelphia Union on Monday.
Kacper Przybylko opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time, and that was enough to condemn Hernan Losada's men to their fifth defeat of the campaign.
Nonetheless, The Black-and-Red are just two points adrift of the last playoff place, which is occupied by CF Montreal at the moment.
Sunday's visitors have scored the second-fewest goals in the Eastern Conference while also conceding the second-most, leaving them with drastic improvement to make at both ends of the pitch.
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Team News
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Eighteen-year-old Ian Fray is ruled out for the home side with a cruciate ligament injury, and he is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Gonzalo Higuain has been instrumental for his side this term, scoring four of their eight goals so far while also supplying an assist.
The trio of Jacob Greene, Nigel Robertha and Chris Odoi-Atsem are all unavailable for the away side due to abdominal strains.
Erik Sorga and Yordy Reyna are currently nursing slight muscle injuries, and they will both miss DC United's trip to Miami.
Hernan Losada might contemplate making some alterations up front as he seeks to fix his side's attacking woes.
Inter Miami possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Guediri, Gonzalez, Shawcross, Ulloa; Matuidi, Da Silva; Shea, Pizarro, Morgan; Higuain
DC United possible starting lineup:
Kempin; Alfaro, Hines-Ike, Najar; Canouse, Arriola, Skundrich, Nyeman, Mora; Flores, Perez
We say: Inter Miami 1-1 DC United
A draw would not be a bad result for either side considering their recent run of results coming into the game. We anticipate a tight affair here with both teams trying not to lose rather than going for all three points, and as a result, a share of the spoils could be on the cards.
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 Inter Miami win with a probability of 53.14%. A draw had a probability of 25.9% and a win for DC United had a probability of 21%.
The most likely scoreline for a Inter Miami win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.14%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.79%) and 2-1 (9.2%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.05%), while for a DC United win it was 0-1 (7.9%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 1% likelihood.
