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Sports Mole looks ahead to Sunday’s Major League Soccer clash between Sporting Kansas City and New England Revolution, including predictions, team news and potential line-ups.
That New England Revolution Returning from international break in search of their first road win at Children’s Mercy Park since 2014 when they came to visit Sporting Kansas City for the first time in the 2022 season of Major League Soccer.
KC is bottom of the Western Conference table with 13 points after 15 games, while last season’s Supporters’ Shield winners have accumulated points in five straight league games and are currently two points behind a postseason berth in the East.
game preview
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At this point in the regular season, it’s safe to say that Kansas City with just three wins so far isn’t at the level we’re used to as they’re currently having their worst start to the season since their name change.
They enter June five points behind the Houston Dynamo for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
It’s rare for the Boston-area team to visit Kansas City, but when they do, SKC seem to be on good terms with themselves, having suffered just one home loss to the Revs in their last 11 trips to Show Me State .
Their overall performance has improved since the 7-2 at Providence Park against the Portland Timbers, but they lack goal depth, currently having the fewest goals in the league (13), with more than half of their goals coming from two players .
In the 2021 regular season peter vermeThe DFB men were among the best defensive units and conceded the third fewest goals in the Western Conference (40). However, they have already allowed more than half of them in 2022 (26) and we are not even halfway through the season yet.
If they can win first blood, Kansas City is a tough team to take, having only lost twice in that scenario this year, although that scenario has rarely happened this season.
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With the recent run the Revs put together, the two-week international window may not have been a good thing Bruce Arena and its players.
New England go into this encounter unbeaten in five straight league games and are finding the back of the net with increasing frequency, scoring multiple goals in seven of their last eight MLS games.
So far this season they have done most of their damage away from home and currently sit level on points at the top of the league with 2.0 goals per away game.
Like their opponents this weekend, the Revolution lack sufficient support at all stages of the game and will need someone to step up in the coming weeks after their top scorer was recently transferred, while their first-choice goalkeeper is set to change in the Premier League soon.
Over the past month, New England have shown great fighting spirit, picking up points in all four league games despite conceding two first goals.
The Revs are a team with plenty of quality players in attack and midfield, though they haven’t figured out how to finish off their opponents and have squandered six points from winning positions in three of their last four regular-season games.
Form of Sporting Kansas City Major League Soccer:
Form of Sporting Kansas City (all competitions):
Form of the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer:
Form of the New England Revolution (all competitions):
Team News
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Johnny Russel has three goals in his last three games for KC when he and Daniel Salloi are tied in team leadership and have each counted four times in this national campaign.
midfield player Roger Espinoza is third in the league, won in attacking third with 16 possession, he also scored once.
Kansas City’s injury list includes Alan Pulido (Knee surgery), Gadi somehow (knee surgery) and Ozzie Cisneros (hamstring), while there are several players listed as questionable such as Graham Zusi (Leg), Khiry Shelton (thighs) and Nikola Vujnovic (Calf).
Remy Walter In terms of distance travelled, the KC midfielder still leads the league with the KC midfielder covering 106.2 miles in 1,350 minutes, and Felipe Hernandez leads them in assists with three.
Heinrich Kessler For New England is questionable because of a leg injury Gustave Bou made his first start in the previous encounter, scoring from the penalty spot.
Bou can be counted on to contribute a lot more since the team was recently sold Adam Buksa to Lens in Ligue 1 while Matt Turner will leave the Revs for north London to join Arsenal next month.
De Juan Jones surpassed 6,000 minutes played in the regular season and recorded two blocked shots at team level in their tie against Philadelphia Union Arnor Trastason started in MLS for the first time since April 9.
Andrew Farrell passed a historic milestone against Philly himself, playing more than 25,000 minutes in the Major League Soccer regular season.
Wilfried Kaptoum started his second straight league game, Dylan Borrero clinched his second MLS career game in their previous game and Karl Gil is tied for the league lead in assists and chances created.
Sporting Kansas City possible starting line-up:
Melia; Sweat, Isimat-Mirin, Fontas, Ndenbe; Rad, Espinoza, Walter, Hernández; Russel, Salloi
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
lathe; Bye Farrell, Bell, Jones; Kaptoum, McNamara; lletget, gil, upholstery; Bou
We say Sporting Kansas City 1-2 New England Revolution
We’ve seen a significant drop from both teams so far this year but the Revs have shown a lot more struggle than KC who we think will be hard to contain Carles Gil’s ball movement, vision and creativity which should help New England to extend their unbeaten run.
For a data analysis of the most likely outcomes, goal scores and more for this game, please click here.
top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com predict under 3.5 goals in this game. Click here to find out what else they predict for this game and for more of their football best tips.Under 3.5:Data