Having enjoyed a stellar pre-season, confidence was high for Chicago Fire heading into the new Major League Soccer season, but it has not clicked for the Fire just yet.
They will look to put a stuttering start to the season to an end when Sporting Kansas City visit Soldier Field on Saturday evening.
Match preview
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Currently in the playoffs after an unbeaten start to the campaign, the Fire picked up their first win of the season last time out against DC United.
Before a much-needed victory, the Chicago-based outfit had failed to score in any of their first two matches of the campaign.
It relieved some of the pressure on coach Ezra Hendrickson, who had enjoyed a bumper transfer window, with both Xherdan Shaqiri and Kacper Przybylko brought in to boost their championship chances.
Whether or not the Fire are ready to kick on and tackle the Eastern Conference, only time will tell, but that first victory is music to the ears of Hendrickson and co.
For Sporting Kansas City, they too boast just one win to their name so far, yet it is the results in their other games which has caused their early-season slump.
Just two teams sit below the Kansas-based side in the Western Conference, with their only win against Houston Dynamo sandwiched in between two defeats.
Comfortably dispatched by Philadelphia Union in City's last match, the Wizards already face an upwards task to reach the playoffs this season.
Having finished third in the 2021 MLS campaign, confidence was high for City heading into 2022 and they will maintain such optimism against the Fire this weekend.
During this cross-conference clash, the Wizards have enjoyed a rich vein of form, going unbeaten in the last six matches between the two.
For the Fire, it is just one win in the last 10 against Sporting Kansas, with a difficult task awaiting the club from Chicago.
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Team News
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Without any early-season injuries, the Fire will welcome Sporting Kansas with close to a full squad available.
Despite regularly featuring for the club so far, neither Shaqiri or Przybylko have been able to net their first goal for the Fire so far.
In fact, it was Stanislav Ivanov who was on target for the Fire last time out and he is likely to start on the right-wing, with Fabian Herbers operating on the opposite flank.
Unlike their opponents, Sporting Kansas will be without a number of key players, who have all carried across injuries from pre-season.
Oriol Rosell is struggling with a hamstring injury and will not travel with the club, whereas Gadi Kinda is expected to be absent from the squad until mid-April.
While the pair are likely to be back sooner rather than later, yet the same cannot be said for Alan Pulido, who is continuing his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Slonina; Sekulic, Omsberg, Czichos, Navarro; Pineda, Gimenez; Ivanov, Shaqiri, Herbers; Przybylko
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Zusi, Isimat-Mirin, Fontas, Ndenbe; Hernandez, Walter, Espinoza; Russell, Vujnovic, Tzionis
We say: Chicago Fire 2-0 Sporting Kansas City
Optimism was high around the Chicago Fire camp ahead of the campaign and while they may have struggled at times in their early-season matches, they do look to have hit a groove with the victory last time out.
For Sporting Kansas, they are yet to find their feet this season, making the hosts the more likely to take three points from this clash.
Top tip
Amos Murphy
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 Chicago Fire win with a probability of 46.42%. A win for Sporting Kansas City had a probability of 27.89% and a draw had a probability of 25.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chicago Fire win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.02%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.21%) and 2-0 (8.31%). The likeliest Sporting Kansas City win was 0-1 (8.11%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.21%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 4.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Chicago Fire would win this match.
