Top of the Western Conference Real Salt Lake take on 10th-placed Seattle Sounders at the Rio Tinto Stadium on Thursday morning in MLS.
The hosts are unbeaten in their last eight league matches, while the visitors have seen a recent upturn in form with two wins and a draw from their last three.
Match preview
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After a fifth-placed finish in the Western Conference last season Salt Lake have been much improved in the opening 12 games this time around, sitting top of the league by two points, albeit with second-placed Minnesota United holding two games in hand.
Two losses in their opening four was far from the ideal start for Pablo Mastroeni's side, but a quick recovery has seen them shoot to the top of the table with five wins and three draws from their following eight league matches.
An unexpected loss to New Mexico United in the US Open Cup had the potential to disrupt their season, especially with the following match pitting them up against third-placed LA Galaxy, but a 2-2 draw kept them top of the table.
While they would have likely taken a draw prior to their trip to Dignity Health Sports Park, Salt Lake would have been disappointed in the manner of the result after leading 2-0 going into half time, eventually conceding a 94th-minute equaliser from Miguel Berry.
Salt Lake will now return to their home base hoping to pick up a needed victory and put an end to any lengthy winless streak from potentially developing.
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Seattle may provide a tougher challenge than the home side would have wanted to achieve that though, with Brian Schmetzer's men seeing a drastic improvement on results and performances in recent weeks.
After finishing second in the Western Conference and losing in the Conference semi-finals of the MLS Cup playoffs last season, Seattle would have been hoping to build upon that this time around.
The beginning to this campaign was far from that plan though, failing to win in any of their first five and only taking three points from one of the opening nine.
An eventual second victory came at the beginning of May, beating Philadelphia Union 3-2, and that result has seemingly kickstarted their season as they have gone on to win two and draw one across all competitions since.
Back-to-back away triumphs over Philadelphia and Portland Timbers have seen them record consecutive victories on the road for the first time since April last year, while they have not won three successive away fixtures since winning four on the bounce in July-August 2021.
Three points against Salt Lake on Monday could see the Sounders move into the top nine for the first time this campaign, depending on St Louis' and Austin FC's results.
Seattle have not won at the Rio Tinto Stadium since a penalty victory in the US Open Cup in June 2016, leaving this as a huge challenge if they are to extend their winning run to three matches.
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Team News
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The hosts could be without no fewer than six players for this upcoming matchup against Seattle.
None of Kevin Bonilla, Pablo Ruiz and Marcelo Silva are expected to return from injury for this one, while Erik Holt and Bryan Oviedo remain as doubts.
Bode Davis was forced off with an injury in the 17th minute of the 2-2 draw with LA Galaxy last time out, and his replacement Andrew Brody is likely to start here.
Brayan Vera could return for Salt Lake after serving his suspension following an accumulation of five yellow cards.
Seattle are also looking at up to five unavailable players for this one.
Braudilio Rodrigues, Nathan Cardoso, Yeimar Gomez Andrade, Nathan and Pedro de la Vega are all expected to remain on the sidelines.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
MacMath; Brody, Glad, Quinton, Katranis; Ojeda, Eneli; Gomez, Crooks, Luna; Arango
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Frei; A Roldan, Ragen, Bell, Tolo; Paulo, C Roldan; Vargas, Rusnak, Morris; Ruidiaz
We say: Real Salt Lake 2-2 Seattle Sounders
While Salt Lake's form has seen a slight dip in recent outings Seattle's has massively improved ahead of this one, leading us to believe that the visitors will manage to snatch a point from their trip to face the league leaders.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
