New York City FC have a chance to match their longest winning run from the 2021 regular season of Major League Soccer when they host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at Citi Field.
The Pigeons have won three consecutive league fixtures, and currently sit fifth in the Eastern Conference, while SKC have failed to win five straight contests, their longest regular-season stretch without a victory since 2019.
Match preview
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The sleeping giant that was NYCFC in the early portion of the 2022 MLS campaign has awoken offensively, scoring 14 goals in their last three games.
Being eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) seems to have lit a fire in them, as they look sharper in possession right now and are making the most of their opportunities in front of goal.
Throughout the campaign, Ronny Deila has preached patience and hard work to his team who won only one of their first four MLS affairs.
New York have taken their coach's advice to heart, and it shows with the Pigeons midfielders doing a brilliant job at picking out their dangerous attacking players in space.
They have not lost a game when scoring multiple goals since June 19, 2021, when they were beaten 3-2 by the New England Revolution.
At the moment, the Boys in Blue seem to be doing everything right, forcing their opponents to commit several turnovers, and peppering opposing goalkeepers, with 32 efforts on target over their three-game winning streak.
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While everything has gone right for the reigning MLS Cup champions, it must feel like almost everything is going wrong at the moment for Peter Vermes and Kansas City.
These players are full of MLS experience across the board, though that has not helped, as they sit in the unfamiliar position of 11th in the Western Conference.
KC need a spark in the worst way to turn this campaign around, and there was a silver lining last week against Dallas as they found an equaliser 13 minutes from the end, earning their first point of the season from a losing position.
Their statistics suggest that they need to improve their passing and link-up play, relying a little too heavily on long balls, leading the league with 79.1 per match.
When they head into the latter stages of a game in front, SKC are among the best in MLS at closing out a game, winning 22 of 23 encounters since 2020 in which they were leading beyond the 75th minute.
Kansas City rely heavily on the quality of their wingers to find space and overload opposing defences down the middle, but they seem to be missing a solid number 10 who has the vision and control to put their front players in the best scoring positions.
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Team News
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New York could be missing a couple of regulars for this encounter as Anton Tinnerholm is out with an Achilles tendon injury, while Maxime Chanot was on the bench for their 3-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes because of an upper-body injury.
Talles Magno picked up another assist last Sunday as he is tied for second in the league with five, while Keaton Parks and Gabriel Pereira tallied for the second time in two games and Chris Gloster scored his first career MLS goal.
Valentin Castellanos leads the Pigeons in goals with five, one more than Thiago Andrade, while goalkeeper Sean Johnson has two clean sheets in his last three matches, stopping the only three shots that he faced against the Goonies.
Daniel Salloi and Johnny Russell, who were tied for the team lead in goals at the end of the 2021 regular season (16), each scored in their 2-2 draw versus Dallas last week, while Cameron Duke picked up his first assist of the campaign.
Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido are out after each undergoing knee surgery, while Nicolas Isimat-Mirin will not be available because of a facial injury and concussion.
KC midfielder Roger Espinoza is fourth in the league when it comes to possessions won in the attacking third with 11.
Remi Walter, who is tied with Salloi and Russell in goals this season with two, leads all MLS players in terms of distance covered (72.2 miles) while sitting in second in recoveries (94).
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Johnson; Gray, Martins, Callens, Amundsen; Parks, Acevedo; Moralez, Rodriguez, Magno; Castellanos
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Zusi, Fontas, Ford, Sweat; Walter, Vujnovic, Espinoza; Russell, Shelton, Salloi
We say: New York City FC 3-1 Sporting Kansas City
NYCFC can do no wrong at the moment, and they have been relentless on the press, making other teams pay for their giveaways.
Sporting are a wounded animal right now, which the Boys in Blue should be able to take advantage of as New York have not shown any mercy when smelling blood.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
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 New York City FC win with a probability of 71.45%. A draw had a probability of 16.6% and a win for Sporting Kansas City had a probability of 11.91%.
The most likely scoreline for a New York City FC win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.41%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.46%) and 3-0 (8.56%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.68%), while for a Sporting Kansas City win it was 1-2 (3.49%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 3.4% likelihood.
