DC United will look to mount the pressure on their fellow playoff hopefuls when they welcome strugglers FC Cincinnati to Audi Field on Sunday morning.
Only once in four meetings has this fixture not finished goalless, with both sides desperate to avoid another stalemate and take all three points.
Match preview
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As a Major League Soccer founding member, DC United are synonymous with the division, yet have struggled to emulate the success they enjoyed early on in their history.
Winners of four MLS Cups and a further four Supporters' Shields between 1996 and 2007, including the inaugural season, only LA Galaxy have tasted more trophy successes than the club from Washington DC, however, it is now 14 years since they have lifted anything.
Indifferent form in the league has left them with work to do if they wish to qualify for their first playoffs since 2019, as the Black-and-Red are one of a number of Eastern Conference sides in with a shout.
Just eight points separate Columbus Crew in 10th all the way up to New York City FC in third, with DC United amongst the mix in eighth.
Currently one point behind Philadelphia Union in the final playoff spot, Hernan Losada will be wary that his side have played one more match than the club from Pennsylvania, but still confident of booking their place.
One way to do just that is to win their fixtures and DC United should fancy themselves against a Cincinnati side who have consistently struggled throughout the 2021 campaign.
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Winning just one of their first eight matches left Cincinnati in a precarious situation and they have only registered a further three victories since mid-May.
One of their four victories this campaign came against the only side below them in the Eastern Conference, Toronto, who the Orange and Blue saw off 2-0.
It was the second victory Cincinnati had picked up against Toronto this year and despite their poor league ranking, it also marked the sixth clean sheet Jaap Stam's side have managed this season.
Notorious for his defensive abilities as a player, Stam has been able to instil some of his past virtues into the Cincinnati backline, however, it is in front of goal where his side have let him down.
No side in the entirety of MLS have scored fewer than Cincinnati and the Orange and Blue would be looking at a more promising league position had they converted some of their three 0-0 draws into wins.
Another stalemate would not be a shock result when they travel to the country's capital, with three of the four matches between the pair ending 0-0 since Cincinnati joined MLS in 2019.
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Team News
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Adrien Perez has featured 12 times for DC United this year, but the centre-forward will be missing until early December following a broken ankle.
Brendan Hines-Ike will also be missing for the hosts after breaking his hip in mid-July, whilst Chris Odoi-Atsem is also set to miss out with a muscle injury.
Nigel Robertha has been absent for every DC United match since August and the centre-forward will be on the sideline once again as he waits for his groin injury to heal.
Staam was left frustrated by Cincinnati's recent loss to New York City FC, not least because of the slender margin of defeat, but also as two of his players were shown red cards in the dying embers of the match.
Both Alvaro Barreal and Isaac Atanga were given their marching orders with less than five minutes to go and will miss the trip to Washington DC.
Maikel van der Werff will be absent for the Orange and Blue, with the visitors' captain expected back soon following a hernia.
Joseph-Claude Gyau is another key asset missing for Cincinnati, as the right-back has been missing since mid-August after an Achilles tendon tear.
DC United possible starting lineup:
Hamid; Alfaro Vazquez, Brillant, Pines; Paredes, Moreno, Canouse, Gressel; Skundrich, Arriola, Kamara
FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:
Tyton; Hagglund, Cameron, Vallecilla, Castillo; Kubo, Medunjanin, Acosta; Valot, Brenner, Harris
We say: DC United 3-0 FC Cincinnati
Both sides are in need of the points for two completely different reasons; DC United are keen to book themselves into this year's playoffs, whilst Cincinnati will be looking to avoid finishing bottom of the Eastern Conference.
The head-to-heads suggest a stalemate, whilst the form book points towards a DC United win – it may not be entirely one-sided, but the Black-and-Red should have enough.
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 DC United win with a probability of 68.41%. A draw had a probability of 18.9% and a win for FC Cincinnati had a probability of 12.69%.
The most likely scoreline for a DC United win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.16%) and 2-1 (9.68%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.98%), while for a FC Cincinnati win it was 0-1 (4.16%). The actual scoreline of 4-2 was predicted with a 1.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that DC United would win this match.
