Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Major League Soccer clash between Seattle Sounders and St Louis City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two teams on a contrasting run of results face off at Lumen Field as Seattle Sounders square up against St Louis City on Thursday.
The hosts are on a five-game winning run across all competitions, while their visitors boast just one victory in 12 matches leading up to this one.
Match preview
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Seattle Sounders narrowly edged out Austin FC courtesy of a 1-0 triumph when the sides clashed at the Q2 Stadium on Sunday.
Despite being on the back foot for large spells of the contest, Brian Schmetzer‘s men got their noses in front through Jordan Morris‘s 63rd-minute strike and that was enough to secure maximum points.
As a result, The Rave Greens remain seventh in the Western Conference of the MLS table, three points ahead of Houston Dynamo in the race for the final guaranteed playoff spot.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost the three previous editions of this fixture by a combined score of 7-1.
Having picked up six wins and three draws from their last nine home involvements, Thursday’s hosts are on song in front of their fans and set out to keep the juggernaut rolling.
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St Louis City were beaten for the third time in four matches following a 4-1 defeat against Vancouver Whitecaps at CITYPARK on Sunday.
Brian White‘s first-half brace either of Nokkvi Thorisson‘s strike saw John Hackworth‘s men head into the interval 2-1 down after which Ryan Raposo and Fafa Picault sealed the deal in the second period.
With 22 points picked up from 23 matches this term, St Louis City sit bottom but one in the Western Conference standings and are already eight points adrift of playoff contention.
Currently on a run of 16 goals conceded across their last five away outings, Thursday’s visitors will need to tighten up at the back to stand any chance of coming away with a positive outcome here.
Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer form:
St Louis City Major League Soccer form:
Team News
Seattle Sounders’ Braudilio Rodrigues is still nursing a hamstring injury and is yet to make his debut since signing from Tacoma Defiance.
Raul Ruidiaz missed the win over Austin FC last time out due to a leg problem which is set to keep him out of Thursday’s affair as well.
Jordan Morris has found the back of the net five times in his last five matches for the hosts, making the forward one to keep an eye on here.
Chris Durkin will not feature in this one due to a one-match suspension he incurred having been booked in St Louis’ defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps.
Rasmus Alm and Joao Klauss both miss out for the visitors through knee injuries, while Tomas Ostrak and Celio Pompeu remain sidelined with ankle and leg problems respectively.
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Frei; Nouhou, Ragen, Andrade, Roldan; Paulo, Vargas; Chu, De la Vega, Rothrock; Morris
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Totland, Yaro, Parker, Reid; Blom, Watts; Klein, Lowen, Vassilev; Thorisson
We say: Seattle Sounders 3-1 St Louis City
Seattle are on fire at the moment and it is hard to envisage any other outcome than a win for them. We fully expect the hosts to cruise to all three points in a relatively comfortable manner.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.