Sporting Kansas City will look to remain unbeaten at Children's Mercy Park when they play host to the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.
The Dynamo picked up their second victory in their last three matches at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps last Saturday, while KC have found their offensive game, scoring three times in a 3-1 win last weekend over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Match preview
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After a tough 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on matchday five where they allowed only one shot on target, the Wizards have turned their game around with back-to-back three-goal outings and victories versus the Vancouver Whitecaps (3-0) and the San Jose Earthquakes (3-1).
For the first time all season, Children's Mercy Park could be at total capacity heading into this match, which will give them yet another advantage in what has been a strong spell for them of late.
KC manager Peter Vermes was happy to see he got a contribution last week from a defender for the first time this year, as Jaylin Lindsey answered the early Quakes goal that came just four minutes into the contest from Javier Lopez.
Vermes singled out the performances of his youngsters last weekend, particularly 19-year-old Kaveh Rad, who looked extremely comfortable in central defence in only his second start of the 2021 campaign.
Strikers Alan Pulido and Daniel Salloi have made significant contributions over the past couple of games, combining for five goals in their past two matches, both convincing victories.
With seven matches played, manager Tab Ramos has to be content to see his Houston Dynamo squad sitting in fourth in the Western Conference standings, just two points behind KC for the second spot.
Ramos has seen two different sides in the early stages of this campaign, as the Dynamo at home are unbeaten with three wins and a draw, while on the road, they have only one point from three games, scoring three times while conceding six.
Oddly, Houston appear to be at their best when they see less of the ball, as they have won all three of their matches this season without having more than 50% possession, including earning only 44% and scoring with their only shot on target the last time they faced Sporting KC.
They have not lost this season when Maximiliano Urruti and Memo Rodriguez have found the back of the net, as both players scored in their 2-1 win last weekend against the Whitecaps.
This weekend Ramos will emphasize the importance of having a killer instinct, something his team lacked in their victory against Vancouver.
They missed several great chances to close out that game after being up 2-0.
They came away with the victory, but they made things unnecessarily tense at the end after conceding an 80th-minute goal from Deiber Caicedo.
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Team News
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Goalkeeper Brooks Thompson is the only injury concern for KC going into this match as he remains sidelined with back problems.
Striker Johnny Russell led the Wizards in goals and assists in 2020, but this season he has been used primarily as a substitute and has only one assist to his name.
For the Dynamo, centre-back Ethan Bartlow and left-back Sam Junqua have been kept out of the lineup since the start of April with concussions.
The veteran leadership of defender Adam Lundqvist has been invaluable for Orange Crush in 2021, as he is tied for second in the league for interceptions with 18.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Martins, Rad, llie, Lindsey; Kinda, Busio, Espinoza; Salloi, Pulido, Shelton
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Maric; Valentin, Parker, Garcia, Lundqvist; Lassiter, Jones, Corona; Rodriguez, Urruti, Picault
We say: Sporting Kansas City 3-1 Houston Dynamo
KC are starting to hit their stride with three goals in each of their last two games, limiting their opponents to fewer than five shots on goal in two of their three matches played at Children's Mercy Park.
Houston have not created a lot of scoring opportunities in their opening seven games, and they may find it difficult to get even a single shot on target this weekend versus an improved Kansas City backline.
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 Sporting Kansas City win with a probability of 60.9%. A draw had a probability of 21.4% and a win for Houston Dynamo had a probability of 17.69%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sporting Kansas City win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.64%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.44%) and 2-1 (9.94%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.13%), while for a Houston Dynamo win it was 0-1 (5.17%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 3.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sporting Kansas City would win this match.
