Nashville SC can set a new club record for the longest unbeaten run when they host St Louis City on Saturday at GEODIS Park for the first time in MLS history.
Last Saturday, the Boys in Gold claimed a point in a ninth successive league encounter, drawing 1-1 at Toronto, while St Louis could not hold onto a 1-0 lead at home to the Los Angeles Galaxy, as their match also finished tied at one apiece.
Match preview
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At the regular season's midway point, Nashville are the second-best team in the league, currently with 32 points, eight behind FC Cincinnati for the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield lead.
While they have put together their share of solid performances of late, when you are on the kind of roll Nashville currently find themselves on, good fortune tends to go your way, and that was the case in Toronto last week as Sean Johnson mishandled a weak long-range effort, allowing the visitors to equalise in a match where the Boys in Gold fired a mere three shots on target.
With only a dozen goals conceded halfway through the campaign, Nashville have given up the fewest in MLS thus far, while also allowing fewer goals at this stage of a regular season (17 games) than ever before.
They have yet to lose to a Western Conference opponent this season, beating Dallas earlier this month (2-1) and drawing the reigning champions Los Angeles FC 1-1 in April.
For a side as defensive-minded as Nashville, Gary Smith has seen them show some resilience of late and claw their way back into matches, earning seven points from losing positions in their last three encounters in which they had conceded first.
Coming into this contest, Nashville have won six straight home games in all competitions while only losing one competitive fixture at GEODIS Park all year (1-0 versus Cincinnati).
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Throughout their inaugural campaign, St Louis City have, at times, shocked us by achieving some lopsided victories, but we have also been surprised by their inability to get the better of the weaker MLS sides.
The only three teams that have avoided defeat when visiting St Louis (Minnesota United, Portland Timbers and LA Galaxy) are all currently on the outside of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, as the home side dropped points last weekend when scoring first for only the second time all year.
Their record at home this season is the main reason Bradley Carnell's men find themselves at the top of the Western Conference table for now, with the second-most victories in the league (nine) and by far the best goal difference (+16).
This team are winless in five successive road fixtures in all competitions, losing their previous three, including a 2-0 defeat at Dallas last Wednesday.
St Louis have never gone winless in three straight domestic contests in 2022, a streak which will be in jeopardy this weekend in what will only be their second road game of the campaign against an Eastern Conference opponent, losing the previous one, 1-0, at the Chicago Fire.
All five of their regular season defeats have come when conceding the opening goal, with St Louis failing to score on four of those occasions.
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Team News
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Luke Haakenson will be questionable for Nashville this weekend because of a lower-body issue, Nick DePuy has missed most of the season for that reason, Walker Zimmerman was called up to the US national team for their upcoming international fixtures and Anibal Godoy was selected to represent Panama.
Randall Leal had the equaliser versus Toronto, his first on the current MLS campaign, Sean Davis led the Boys in Gold with 10 possessions won last week, Dax McCarty had the most chances created (three), Jack Maher led the way regarding pass accuracy (31 for 31) and Daniel Lovitz had three successful dribbles.
Hany Mukhtar saw his three-match scoring streak in MLS end last weekend, Fafa Picault led the team in interceptions with two, Teal Bunbury picked up his 354th career league cap and Alex Muyl led them in tackles won (three).
St Louis were without Klauss again last weekend as the Brazilian is still recovering from a quad strain, Joakim Nilsson has a knee injury and Njabulo Blom was called up to the South African national team for their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifier versus Morocco.
Nicholas Gioacchini has scored in two of his last three games, notching the only goal for them last weekend, with Indiana Vassilev assisting, for his fifth goal involvement of 2023.
Eduard Lowen is tied with Klauss for second on the team in goals, and he leads them in assists with six, two more than Jared Stroud, while the German is third in the league for tackles won (31) behind Aidan Morris (40) and Mark-Anthony Kaye (46).
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Moore, Bauer, Maher, Lovitz; McCarty; Muyl, Davis; Mukhtar; Shaffelburg, Picault
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Nerwinski, Bartlett, Parker, Hiebert; Perez, Lowen; Pompeu, Ostrak, Stroud; Gioacchini
We say: Nashville SC 2-0 St Louis City
Momentum is a funny thing, and when you have it, that can sometimes propel you to victory in matches where you do not deserve it.
The tight defensive set-up of Nashville and a lack of creativity from St Louis away from home have us leaning towards the home team to claim all three points this Saturday.
How to watch
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Joel Lefevre
