Off the back of a much-needed MLS victory last time out, San Jose Earthquakes welcome Sporting Kansas City to PayPal Park on Saturday.
The away side, on the other hand, head to California in search of a fourth win in five matches across all competitions to keep their recent resurgence going.
Match preview
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San Jose Earthquakes snapped a run of six straight losses with a narrow 1-0 triumph over Chicago Fire in Sunday's meeting between the sides.
Ian Russell's men opened the scoring in the early exchanges of the second half through Hernan Lopez and that was enough to come out on top.
With 14 points amassed from 22 matches so far, the Goonies remain bottom of the Western Conference in the MLS table and still have a mountain to climb if they are to compete for a playoff spot.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost just one of the last 10 editions of this fixture, winning seven of the other nine.
Having recently picked up a first home victory in six attempts, Saturday's hosts will be keen to pick up where they left off in front of their fans.
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Sporting Kansas City secured safe passage into the semi-finals of the US Open Cup thanks to a 2-1 extra-time triumph over FC Dallas at Children's Mercy Park on Thursday.
Peter Vermes's men got their noses with 13 minutes left to play through William Agada and looked set to get the job done in normal time before Petar Musa struck a late equaliser to force an additional half hour, in which Daniel Rosero settled matters.
Prior to that, the Wizards claimed a 3-2 league victory also against FC Dallas and sit bottom but one in the Western Conference standings.
Currently on a run of six straight away defeats, Sunday's visitors have work to do at both ends of the pitch if they are to record a rare win on enemy territory.
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Team News
American duo JT Marcinkowski and Jamar Ricketts are sidelined with knee and groin injuries respectively, ruling them out of contention for San Jose.
Goalkeeper Daniel has not featured for the hosts since mid-March due to a shoulder problem, and William Yarbrough is expected to feature between the sticks once again.
Sporting Kansas' Zohran Bassong is ineligible to participate in this one having received his marching orders in the win over Dallas.
Kortne Ford also misses out for the away side through an Achilles tendon injury, while 24-year-old Logan Ndenbe continues to nurse a niggling leg injury.
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Yarbrough; Beason, Munie, Rodrigues, Costa; Yueill, Gruezo; Espinoza, Lopez, Kikanovic; Ebobisse
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Pierre, Castellanos, Fontas, Leibold; Davis, Rodriguez; Vargas, Pulido, Salloi; Agada
We say: San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Sporting Kansas City
As bad as San Jose have been at home this term, Sporting Kansas have been significantly worse on the road, and we cannot see them getting anything from this one.
We are tipping the hosts to emerge triumphant, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
