In-form sides Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati will do battle at Lower.com Field on Saturday in matchday 12 of the 2023-24 Major League Soccer season.
The hosts are without defeat in their last nine matches across all competitions, while their visitors head into this weekend's clash on a run of three straight wins.
Match preview
Columbus Crew secured safe passage into the next round of the CONCACAF Champions League thanks to a 3-1 victory over Monterrey at Estadio BBVA Bancomer.
Wilfried Nancy's men fell behind to Yevgen Cheberko's own goal but managed to level matters through Aidan Morris on the stroke of half time before second-half goals from Diego Rossi and Jacen Russell-Rowe completed the turnaround.
Prior to that, the Black and Gold played out a goalless draw against CF Montreal and have dropped down to fifth place in the Eastern Conference of the MLS table.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost just one of the last seven editions of this fixture dating back to 2021.
Unbeaten in seven straight matches on home turf, the hosts will fancy their chances of securing another positive result in front of their fans.
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FC Cincinnati just about managed to scrape a 1-0 victory against Orlando City SC in Saturday's nail-biting encounter at the Exploria Stadium.
Pat Noonan's men opened the scoring in the first minute thanks to Luciano Acosta's third goal in as many matches which proved to be the all-important moment.
With 21 points picked up from 11 matches, the Knifey Lions sit second in the Eastern Conference standings, three points behind leaders Inter Miami.
Currently boasting the best away record in the division, Saturday's visitors now set out to record what would be a third consecutive win on the road and a fifth in seven league outings this term.
Team News
American defender Bret Halsey is ineligible to feature for Cincinnati here, having received his marching orders in the win over Orlando City.
Aaron Boupendza is also ruled out for this weekend's visitors, with the 27-year-old set to miss a second straight game with a jaw problem.
Evan Bush is still unavailable through an injury he sustained in mid-April and remains Columbus Crew's only guaranteed absentee for this one.
Jacen Russell-Rowe needed just four minutes to make an impact off the bench for the visitors last time out, which could see him rewarded with a place in the starting lineup here.
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Schulte; Zawadzki, Cheberko, Amundsen; Farsi, Morris, Jones, Arfsten; Matan, Hinestroza; Russell-Rowe
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Celentano; Murphy, Miazga, Robinson; Orellano, Bucha, Nwobodo, Yedlin; Acosta, Kubo, Baird
We say: Columbus Crew 2-0 FC Cincinnati
Columbus' record in this fixture coupled with their home form makes them huge favourites to come out on top here. We are backing the hosts to secure maximum points at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
