Minnesota United will look to put their first victory of the Major League Soccer campaign on the board on Sunday, when they welcome Austin FC to Allianz Field.
The hosts have suffered back-to-back defeats to start the season, sitting at the foot of the Western Conference table as a result, while their visitors recorded their first win of the season last time out, defeating Colorado Rapids 3-1 away from home.
Match preview
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Minnesota United fell to a narrow defeat last time out, when they hosted Real Salt Lake.
The visitors took a two-goal lead in the first through an Anderson Julio brace, before Robin Lod pulled a goal back for his side late on, but that was not enough to salvage a point for the Loons.
Adrian Heath's side got off to a poor start in the MLS, suffering a 4-0 away defeat at the hands of Seattle Sounders on the opening day, as Raul Ruidiaz netted a brace alongside goals from Joao Paulo and Fredy Montero to send Minnesota to the foot of the Western Conference straight away.
They will now look to overcome those two defeats, and put their first points of the season on the board to quickly move off the foot of the table and closer to the seven playoff spots in their conference.
They take on the newest franchise in the MLS, as Austin embark on their first season in the top flight.
Josh Wolff's side began their MLS journey with a trip to Los Angeles FC, but they had to go home empty-handed as goals from Corey Baird and Jose Cifuentes condemned the Greens to a 2-0 defeat.
They quickly bounced back from that though, as Wolff's men picked up an impressive 3-1 victory away at Colorado Rapids.
Andre Shinyashiki put the hosts ahead in the first half, but a Diego Fagundez goal on the hour mark levelled the scoring before Cecilio Dominguez netted a brace to seal all three points for his side.
Austin will now look to add a second consecutive victory to cement themselves at the top end of the Western Conference, having quickly adjusted to life in USA's elite league.
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Team News
Minnesota made a change to their defence for the second game of the season, as centre-back Brent Kallman was dropped to the bench following a disappointing performance in the opening 4-0 defeat to Seattle Sounders.
Finland international Jukka Raitala took his place, and he is expected to play alongside Michael Boxall on Sunday.
Robin Lod netted his side's first goal of the MLS season last time out, and he will feature prominently in attack again, with the support of Emanuel Reynoso and Juan Agudelo.
Cecilio Dominguez will play a key role in Austin's attack, having netted a brace in the 3-1 win over Colorado last time out.
Meanwhile, midfielder Diego Fagundez netted the opening goal in that game, and consequently the first goal in the franchise's history, and he is expected to line up in a midfield three alongside Alexander Ring and Daniel Pereira.
Exciting attacking player Tomas Pochettino was surprisingly absent from the squad last time out, and Austin could be without one of their key assets again for the trip to Minnesota.
Minnesota United possible starting lineup:
Clair; Metanire, Boxall, Raitala, Gasper; Trapp, Alonso; Lod, Reynoso, Finlay; Agudelo
Austin FC possible starting lineup:
Stuver; Lima, Romana, Cascante, Sweat; Fagundez, Ring, Pereira; Stroud, Hoesen, Dominguez
We say: Minnesota United 1-2 Austin FC
While Minnesota would conventionally come into this game as favourites, Austin look an exciting proposition in their first MLS campaign, and we see them pulling off another impressive victory when they travel north.
The visitors could take advantage of the fact that the Loons come into this game on the back of consecutive defeats, and we see them building momentum with a somewhat surprising victory.
Sam Varley
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 Minnesota United win with a probability of 68.24%. A draw had a probability of 17.4% and a win for Austin FC had a probability of 14.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Minnesota United win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.48%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.96%) and 3-1 (7.8%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.68%), while for an Austin FC win it was 1-2 (4.06%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 3.1% likelihood.
