Orlando City play host to San Jose Earthquakes on Tuesday night looking to strengthen their hold of second place in the Eastern Conference.
While the home side are impressing on one side of the United States, the Earthquakes are down in eighth spot in the Western Conference after a five-match winless streak.
Match preview
© Reuters
Orlando have not had it all their own way this season, winning just half of their opening eight fixtures and possessing the fourth-best attack.
However, Saturday night's thrilling 3-2 triumph at Toronto FC moved Oscar Pareja's side into a position where they are now regarded as the nearest challengers to New England Revolution.
There are still five points separating the Lions to the pacesetters, but Junior Urso's late strike in Canada has handed his team a much-needed boost after their previous defeat at New York Red Bulls.
The fixture at the weekend also featured the return of former Portugal star Nani, who contributed his fourth goal from just six outings this season.
At a time when Orlando are on a high and looking to chase down top spot, the Earthquakes are becoming increasingly eager to end a run of form which has left the club outside of the playoff places.
Although Saturday's goalless draw with Austin FC was a step in the right direction, Matias Almeyda will be concerned with how his players have lost their way after a bright start to the campaign.
Not even the return of club legend Chris Wondolowski could improve their fortunes in the final third, the Earthquakes now having scored just once in five contests.
Victory on Tuesday should be enough to take the team back into the top six, but Almeyda may be more wary of his team moving closer to the bottom of the standings now that they hold just a three-point advantage over FC Dallas.
Orlando have conceded just once in their four home fixtures this season, highlighting the size of the task in front of the Earthquakes at the Exploria Stadium.
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Almeyda will consider handing recalls to the likes of Cade Cowell and Carlos Fierro for this encounter.
Andres Rios is likely to drop out of the Earthquakes starting lineup, while 38-year-old Wondolowski may be rested after coming through 82 minutes at the weekend.
Daryl Dike made his return to the Orlando squad at the weekend after his hugely impressive loan spell at Barnsley.
However, the young American striker is likely to be kept in reserve for this contest with Pareja contemplating naming an unchanged starting XI.
Orlando remain without Pedro Gallese and Sebastian Mendez due to their participation in the Copa America.
Orlando City possible starting lineup:
Austin; Smith, Carlos, Jansson, Moutinho; Urso, Perea; Water, Pereyra, Nani; Akindele
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Judson, Jungwirth, Alanis, Marie; Yueill, Remedi; Espinoza, Lopez, Fierro; Cowell
We say: Orlando City 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes
Having finally halted their losing streak at the weekend, we feel that the Earthquakes will play with more belief in their next game. Nevertheless, we still expect the home side to prevail in this contest, potentially by the odd goal in three after a hard-fought battle.
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 Orlando City win with a probability of 48.39%. A win for San Jose Earthquakes had a probability of 30.18% and a draw had a probability of 21.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Orlando City win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (5.96%) and 2-0 (5.63%). The likeliest San Jose Earthquakes win was 1-2 (6.86%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (8.74%). The actual scoreline of 5-0 was predicted with a 0.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Orlando City would win this match.
Previews by email
The 2023 MLS season is now up and running, and you can watch every game live with the MLS season pass on Apple TV. Click here for more details on how to subscribe.
