Aiming to avoid a fourth Major League Soccer defeat on the bounce, Charlotte FC welcome New York City FC to the Bank of America on Saturday.
On the other hand, the away side make the journey looking to end a barren run which has seen them fail to win any of their most recent four matches.
Match preview
© Reuters
Charlotte FC fell to a third consecutive loss as they were beaten 2-0 by FC Cincinnati in Sunday's meeting between the teams at the TQL Stadium.
Christian Lattanzio's men went behind seven minutes shy of the break to Nick Hagglund's opener before Luciano Acosta put the game to bed in the 81st minute.
As a result, the Crowns are 12th in the Eastern Conference, seven points behind the last playoff spot as the regular season enters into its final knockings.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who suffered a 3-1 defeat in the only previous edition of this fixture which took place last month.
Having come up short in their last three games on home turf, Saturday's hosts will be keen to turn things around in front of their fans here.
© Reuters
New York City FC ended a run of three defeats on the bounce thanks to a 1-1 stalemate against FC Cincinnati at the Citi Field on Thursday.
Nick Cushing's men fell behind to Thiago Martins's own goal midway through the first half before drawing level through Gabriel Pereira four minutes before the interval.
The Boys in Blue remain fourth in the Eastern Conference table but have now fallen a whopping 14 points behind leaders Philadelphia Union.
Ahead of a continental commitment against Mexican side Atlas five days later, Saturday's visitors set out to pick up a morale-boosting victory this weekend.
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- D
Team News
The American duo of Justin Haak and Alfredo Morales are currently down with muscle injuries, while Keaton Parks remains out with a knee problem.
Anton Tinnerholm is also a guaranteed absentee for New York City FC having missed each of the last two games with a hamstring problem.
Charlotte's Christian Fuchs is expected to come back into the XI for this one after watching the entire defeat against Cincinnati from the substitutes' bench.
Karol Swiderski put on a man-of-the-match performance in the last encounter against Saturday's hosts, and the forward will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Charlotte FC possible starting lineup:
Kahlina; Lindsey, Malanda, Walkes, Fuchs; Bronico, Jones, Bender; Calderon, Swiderski, Jozwiak
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Johnson; Tinnerholm, Chanot, Martins, Meineche; Morales, Moralez; Andrade, Rodriguez, Magno; Heber
We say: Charlotte FC 1-1 New York City FC
Off the back of a dismal run of results for both teams, we expected a keenly-contested affair with the sides going for all three points. That said, we are also backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
