New England Revolution will be aiming for consecutive victories this Sunday when they welcome Columbus Crew to the Gillette Stadium.
The visitors are undefeated in their previous two Major League Soccer matches, and they have the possibility of moving up to fifth in the table with a win this weekend.
Match preview
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New England might have started the season well, but they ended up hitting a difficult spell of form as of late, having lost five league games in a row.
However, they were able to bring that difficult run to an end last weekend when they defeated Inter Miami 2-0 thanks to goals from Damian Rivera and Adam Buksa.
The clean sheet was welcomed by Bruce Arena considering his team have the fifth-worst defensive record in the Eastern Conference at the moment.
New England's defensive problems have attributed to their league position, with the club currently in ninth place, as they sit just a single point above bottom.
Despite how close they are to being at the foot of the table, a victory has the potential of putting the Revs into the playoffs, and it would allow them to leapfrog their opponents.
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Columbus Crew were also dealing with a difficult spell, having suffered a five-game run without a victory in all competitions, so the recent results were welcomed.
However, the visitors are heading into this match in better form than the hosts given that they are undefeated in their previous two outings.
Caleb Porter's men were able to hold Sporting Kansas City to a goalless draw, and that was followed up by a 3-0 win against DC United last weekend.
The consecutive clean sheets have showcased their ability to close out a game, while Pedro Santos, Derrick Etienne and Darlington Nagbe all got on the scoresheet in their most recent outing.
Those two results have kept Columbus in the playoffs, which they have the chance to secure further this Sunday, as a victory could push them as high as fifth depending on other matches.
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Team News
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New England are likely to be without Ryan Spaulding yet again due to his muscular injury, and because of that, the back four is probably going to stay the same.
Both Lucas Maciel and Jon Bell have also been missing as of late for the hosts, and there are question marks surrounding them once again.
Arena was boosted by the return of his number one goalkeeper Matt Turner last weekend though, and his impact was felt immediately as the Revs kept a clean sheet.
Kevin Molino is one of the best attacking threats that Columbus Crew boast, but he has been out of action lately due to a knee issue.
The decision to once again play with the 4-3-3 formation paid off for the Black and Gold, which is something that could continue this weekend once again.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Turner; Bye, Farrell, Kessler, Jones; Polster, Lletget, McNamara, Gil; Buksa, Rivera
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Room; Moreira, Jonathan, Williams, Santos; Nagbe, Artur, Morris; Etienne, Igbekeme, Berry
We say: New England Revolution 1-2 Columbus Crew
Both teams have suffered lengthy runs without a victory as of late, but they head into this match having brought those to an end.
That should bring confidence to them, and it will lead to a closely-fought game, yet the visitors should just be able to steal all three points due to their slightly stronger defensive qualities.
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 New England Revolution win with a probability of 55.22%. A draw had a probability of 23.6% and a win for Columbus Crew had a probability of 21.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a New England Revolution win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.93%) and 2-1 (9.78%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.21%), while for a Columbus Crew win it was 0-1 (6.43%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.8% likelihood.
