The Seattle Sounders can increase their lead atop the Western Conference table when they take on the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Wednesday.
Colorado will have revenge on their mind after the Rave Green handed them their worst defeat of the season, 3-0 in early October.
Match preview
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Heading into this month with points in 12 consecutive fixtures, the Rapids have cooled off a little bit, losing two of their last three games.
Their normally stingy defence left a lot of gaps in between the lines on Saturday, and their rivals Real Salt Lake made them pay, going ahead after 13 minutes and scoring three goals against them for the second time this year.
The Burgundy Boys conceded seven goals on their recent three-game road trip, and they will be happy to be back home on a field where they have collected consecutive clean sheets.
Robin Fraser has seen his players react well when going down a goal, as they came from behind to beat Minnesota United 3-1, but ultimately they could not get into those dangerous areas enough to trouble Claret and Cobalt.
Their recent run of poor results has set them back in their quest to capture the top spot in the Western Conference for the first time in their history, currently, six points behind Seattle, although a win this week could close that gap and make it a three-horse race once again, with KC just a point above Colorado heading into this match, with the Wizards getting set to face Seattle on Saturday.
Even though the Sounders handled the Burgundy Boys in their last meeting, the Rapids should be feeling reasonably comfortable playing the Rave Green at home, where they have not suffered a defeat against them since 2018.
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For the first time in quite a while, the Sounders were off their game this weekend, conceding twice in the opening 20 minutes, falling 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo.
In the end, it was no harm, no foul, as Brian Schmetzer's side got some help from the Vancouver Whitecaps, who edged Sporting Kansas City 2-1, enabling Seattle to maintain its five-point lead in the Western Conference.
Their 3-4-2-1 formation that looked so good in their Cascadia Cup tie versus Vancouver were anything but good in Houston.
The off-the-ball movement and running was invisible for large stretches of their weekend encounter, while their attacking sequences were predictable, lacking imagination and urgency.
You have to think that their performance versus the Dynamo was just a one-off as we rarely see this experienced group put together consecutive poor performances.
Defensively they will need to be sharp the rest of the way if they want to claim the top spot in the conference going into the playoffs, as they host Sporting Kansas City this upcoming weekend, before wrapping up the regular season against three teams fighting desperately for a playoff berth in Los Angeles FC, the Galaxy and the Caps.
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Team News
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Younes Namli scored his first goal of the season for the Burgundy Boys on Saturday, becoming the 17th different player to find the back of the net for them this year, while Jack Price, who leads the team in assists with 11, made his 100th appearance for Colorado.
Defender Keegan Rosenberry picked up his 160th MLS cap, with half of his appearances coming with the Rapids, while goalkeeper William Yarbrough has only allowed one goal in his last three games played at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Danny Wilson missed their weekend fixtures because of a red card suspension, as Lalas Abubakar replaced him in central defence and Cole Bassett was in the starting 11 instead of Namli, who came on as a substitute.
Jimmy Medranda scored his fourth goal of the season for Seattle near the end of the first half against Houston, setting a new career-high, while Will Bruin and Fredy Montero will hope to add to their impressive tally against the Rapids, having each scored four times against them in their Seattle careers.
Jordan Morris and Jordy Delem are still out with ACL issues, Nicolas Lodeiro continues to recover from right knee surgery, Brad Smith has a right AC joint sprain and their leading goalscorer Raul Ruidiaz missed a third consecutive match due to a left hamstring strain.
Four of the five Sounders players who featured during the international window saw the field on Saturday, including Cristian Roldan, Nouhou Tolo, Alex Roldan and Xavier Arreaga.
Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:
Yarbough; Trusty, Abubakar, Rosenberry; Barrios, Warner, Price, Galvan; Lewis, Bassett; Rubio
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Frei; Cissoko, Arreaga, O'Neill; A. Roldan, Paulo, Benezet, Rowe; C. Roldan, Montero; Bruin
We say: Colorado Rapids 1-1 Seattle Sounders
These are the two best defensive sides in the Western Conference, who are both coming off defeats, but rarely do we see either of them lose consecutive affairs, so expect to see a lot of tight marking with very little space in attack.
Joel Lefevre
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 Colorado Rapids win with a probability of 52.74%. A draw had a probability of 25.3% and a win for Seattle Sounders had a probability of 21.99%.
The most likely scoreline for a Colorado Rapids win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.23%) and 2-1 (9.42%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.94%), while for a Seattle Sounders win it was 0-1 (7.57%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.9% likelihood.
