Looking to end a five-game winless streak across all competitions, Portland Timbers welcome Sporting Kansas City to Providence Park on Sunday.
On the other hand, the away side come into this one looking to make it back to back victories for the first time this term having ended a run of six straight winless matches last time out.
Match preview
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Portland Timbers have suffered an early exit from this season's US Open Cup following a 2-0 disappointing defeat to Los Angeles FC on Sunday.
Goals in either half from Cristian Arango and Mamadou Fall sent Giovanni Savarese's men packing in a largely one-sided contest at the Banc of California Stadium.
This came off the back of a 1-1 stalemate against New York Red Bulls in the Timbers' last league outing on May 1, which leaves them sitting 10th in the Western Conference.
Their next assignment comes against an opposing side who have failed to win any of the most recent eight meetings between the teams since August 2018.
Having amassed just six points across five home league matches this term, Sunday's hosts will need to get going in front of their fans to stand any chance of challenging for a playoff berth.
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Sporting Kansas City came out on top in a 4-2 thriller against FC Dallas at the Children's Mercy Park to progress into the next round of the US Open Cup.
Peter Vermes's men found themselves with a mountain to climb at half time thanks to first-half strikes from Franco Jara and Eddie Munjoma, before hitting back through Nikola Vujnovic, Marinos Tzionis, Khiry Shelton and an own goal from Edwin Cerrillo.
Prior to that, the Wizards, who are currently 12th in the Western Conference, were held to a drab goalless draw by New York City FC in last Sunday's encounter at the Yankee Stadium.
With just one point picked up from six away league games so far, Sunday's visitors will be seeking a change in fortune on the road this weekend.
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Team News
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Portland's Felipe Mora still awaits his first outing of the campaign as he continues to recuperate from a recent surgery.
Thirty-year-old George Fochive has not featured much this term either having missed a huge chunk of action due to a knee problem.
Alan Pulido and Gadi Kinda will both be unavailable for Sporting Kansas, with the duo currently nursing respective knee injuries.
American defender Graham Zusi is a huge doubt for Sunday's contest, which should see Robert Voloder retain his place in the starting XI.
Nicolas Isimat-Mirin could however return to the fold after sitting out each of the last three games with a hamstring injury.
Portland Timbers possible starting lineup:
Bingham; Rasmussen, Zuparic, Mabiala, Bonillia; Williamson, Paredes; Loria, Chara, Moreno; Niezgoda
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Ndenbe, Voloder, Ford, Duke; Walter, Rosell, Espinoza; Salloi, Shelton, Russell
We say: Portland Timbers 1-0 Sporting Kansas City
Both sides have struggled in front of goal this term, so we expect a low-scoring affair with little goalmouth action. That said, we are also backing the home team to narrowly edge out their visitors and come away with all three points.
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 Portland Timbers win with a probability of 54.32%. A draw had a probability of 24% and a win for Sporting Kansas City had a probability of 21.71%.
The most likely scoreline for a Portland Timbers win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.88%) and 2-1 (9.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.39%), while for a Sporting Kansas City win it was 0-1 (6.68%). The actual scoreline of 7-2 was predicted with a 0% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Portland Timbers would win this match.
