Two sides who have made relatively strong starts to the Major League Soccer campaign will do battle on Saturday, as Dallas welcome Houston Dynamo to the Toyota Stadium.
The teams have each earned three victories and 12 points from the opening seven matches of the league season, with both unbeaten in five MLS outings.
Match preview
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After a draw with Toronto and a defeat to the New England Revolution to begin the season, Dallas have quickly found their form, earning three victories in the last five league games.
They posted a first league win of the season against Nashville SC and thrashed Portland Timbers 4-1, thanks to a Jesus Ferreira hat-trick and Paul Arriola's goal, before playing out a goalless stalemate away at Chicago Fire.
Nico Estevez's side were again able to return to winning ways following that draw, as they beat Colorado Rapids 3-1 with Ferreira adding another two goals to his tally after they initially trailed, and the Texan outfit now head into the weekend on the back of another goalless draw last time out against New York Red Bulls.
While they have been shut out three times in the MLS so far this season, Estevez's men have shown in other games that they can be dangerous going forward, and they will be keen to return to the eye-catching levels they have already displayed at stages of the new term on Saturday.
On the back of a midweek 2-1 victory over FC Tulsa in the US Open Cup, Dallas will aim for a fourth league win of the campaign with the chance to move into the top three of the MLS Western Conference.
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They meet a Houston Dynamo side who have an identical record after seven matches of the league campaign and only trail their visitors on goal difference in the table.
El Naranja also suffered a defeat and played out a draw in their first two matches but have since gone unbeaten, registering three victories and two draws in the last five outings.
Two of those triumphs came consecutively at the beginning of April, as they beat Inter Miami and San Jose Earthquakes, with the latter being a seven-goal thriller as Sebastian Ferreira hit a brace alongside goals from Darwin Quintero and Teenage Hadebe in a 4-3 win.
Most recently in the MLS, Paulo Nagamura's side hosted the Portland Timbers, and they eventually held on for a point in a goalless draw after Hadebe was sent off with 15 minutes to go.
That left them fourth in the Western Conference, and, after a 2-1 cup win of their own in the week over RGV Toros, they will aim to make a return to winning ways and leapfrog their hosts on Saturday.
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Team News
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Dallas should come into Saturday's game with a clean bill of health, and Estevez is unlikely to make many changes to the side that has produced a positive start to the season.
Attacker Jesus Ferreira will come in with confidence, having already hit a hat-trick and a brace in the MLS this season.
Paul Arriola should also feature in the front line, while Franco Jara will be pushing to come into the starting XI from the outset.
Houston Dynamo are without centre-back Teenage Hadebe, who will serve a suspension after he was sent off in their last league outing against Portland Timbers.
Fellow key defender Daniel Steres will also miss out, as he continues to nurse an injury.
Winger Darwin Quintero has been their star performer so far this season, hitting four goals and contributing an assist in his five starts in the league.
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Twumasi, Hedges, Martinez, Farfan; Servania, Quignon, Pomykal; Arriola, Jara, Ferreira
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Dorsey, Parker, Bartlow, Lundqvist; Vera, Carrasquilla; Pasher, Picault, Quintero; Ferreira
We say: Dallas 2-2 Houston Dynamo
Given the two sides' similar starts, we predict a close encounter and see a draw as the most likely outcome.
They have each shown their ability to find the net at points, and, as a result, we back the two teams to cause each other problems and share the spoils in Dallas.
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 Dallas win with a probability of 59.83%. A draw had a probability of 21.9% and a win for Houston Dynamo had a probability of 18.29%.
The most likely scoreline for a Dallas win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.88%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.41%) and 2-1 (9.93%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.37%), while for a Houston Dynamo win it was 0-1 (5.42%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Dallas would win this match.
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