The New England Revolution are hoping to pad their lead atop the Eastern Conference table when they host CF Montreal at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The Revs have won their last two fixtures, hammering Inter Miami 5-0 on Wednesday, while Montreal were shut out for the fifth time this season, losing 1-0 to New York City FC.
Match preview
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Just when it looked like their early season momentum was fading away, the New England Revolution have shown that they are still a serious contender to win the MLS Cup after earning back-to-back victories over Atlanta United (1-0) and Inter Miami.
For the first time in weeks, we will see them face a formidable opponent, as Montreal are currently in fifth in the east with 22 points.
Having a 10-day break following their defeat at home to Toronto FC appears to have helped them make some valuable defensive adjustments, as they have posted consecutive clean sheets for the first time this year.
Bruce Arena has to be pleased with that area of their game which has been a problem spot for the Revs, who have conceded multiple goals in seven games this season.
On Wednesday, they scored four first-half goals for the first time since 2017, and they pulled off their biggest victory since beating the Sounders in 2014, also by a 5-0 score.
Their current two-game winning streak has put some distance between themselves and their Eastern Conference challengers, as they are currently five points above second place Orlando City, but with three of their next four games against sides in a playoff position, they will know that they cannot afford to take their foot off the gas.
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After one of the most emotional victories in their MLS history, defeating FC Cincinnati 5-4, CF Montreal suffered a let-down this week, dropping a 1-0 decision to New York City FC.
Rookie manager Wilfried Nancy said that he was pleased with the way that they defended on Wednesday after looking sloppy and out of sorts in their previous fixture.
They had a lot more structure to their game versus the Pigeons, but there was a real lack of imagination and creativity going forward as Montreal fired only one shot on target.
Their defensive approach has put them in a playoff position for the moment, but they could use a spark in attack, having been shut out in five matches this year.
Nancy has usually seen his team respond well following a defeat, losing consecutive matches only once this season.
There are a couple of winnable games for this side upcoming, as they follow up this match by facing Inter Miami and then Atlanta United, so a win against New England could do them the world of good.
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Team News
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Revs goalkeeper Matt Turner has started all three games at the Gold Cup for the United States, but this team has looked fine with veteran Brad Knighton, who has consecutive clean sheets, having to make only one save against the Herons.
Tajon Buchanan is still at the Gold Cup with the Canadian national team, while Carles Gil notched his league-leading 11th assist of the season versus Inter Miami and Luis Caicedo is still nursing a lower-body injury.
Arnor Traustason scored the first two goals of his Revolution and MLS career this week, while Adam Buksa notched his first multi-goal game in his MLS career.
Andrew Farrell made his 254th appearance for the Revs on Wednesday, which puts him in a tie for third all-time with Matt Reis and only seven behind Shalrie Joseph and Diego Fagundez for the most in club history.
Montreal will be missing Kamal Miller and Samuel Piette, who are still with Canada for the Gold Cup, and Romell Quioto, who is with Honduras.
Goalkeeper Clement Diop has a right leg injury and will be replaced again by James Pantemis, while Ballou Tabla is nursing a groin injury and Kiki Struna has an unknown injury.
Striker Mason Toye has three goals in his last three matches for Montreal, and he leads the team with six so far this year.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Knighton; Mafla, Bell, Farrell, DeLaGarza; Traustason, Caldwell, McNamara; Gil; Bou, Buksa
CF Montreal possible starting lineup:
Pantemis; Brault-Guillard, Waterman, Camacho, Bassong; Wanyama, Mihailovic, Lappalainen, Maciel; Torres, Toye
We say: New England Revolution 1-0 CF Montreal
New England are showing their depth as the Eastern Conference leaders are first in MLS in goals (28) and assists (29), having gone scoreless only once all season.
Montreal are more than capable of keeping a match close, but they do not have enough attacking threats to bother a much-improved Revolution defence.
Top tip
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 New England Revolution win with a probability of 65.84%. A draw had a probability of 19.2% and a win for CF Montreal had a probability of 14.97%.
The most likely scoreline for a New England Revolution win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.46%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.85%) and 1-0 (9.54%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.99%), while for a CF Montreal win it was 1-2 (4.23%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that New England Revolution would win this match.
