Preview: New York City FC vs Columbus Crew - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh off their Leagues Cup exit earlier in the week, New York City FC return to MLS action on Saturday when they host the Columbus Crew at Citi Field.

New York City are holding down one of the two wildcard spots in the Eastern Conference, winning their last league fixture 4-3 at Dallas, while the Crew dropped down to fourth in the table with a 3-1 league defeat versus Orlando City.

Match preview

Not too dissimilar to their domestic season, the Pigeons’ Leagues Cup group phase was full of inconsistencies from one match to the next, losing their opener and their final game of that tournament, with a victory in between.

Pascal Jansen’s men return to regular season action with points in four of their last five contests but have not won consecutive matches in this competition since May (two).

With 10 league matches remaining, they find themselves in eighth place, five points above the playoff line and only below Charlotte FC for seventh with one fewer win.

Saturday will be their fourth MLS affair at Citi Field this year, with this team emerging victorious in those three prior matches without a single goal conceded.

NYCFC have won four of their previous five home encounters in this competition, scoring three or more goals in their last three league games played in New York.

The Boys in Blue are 3-0 at home this season versus Eastern Conference sides that are currently above them in the table, including a 1-0 triumph in Queens against both FC Cincinnati and the Philadelphia Union.

Despite winning their final two matches in the group phase, the Columbus Crew saw their reign as Leagues Cup champions end earlier this week.

Wilfried Nancy’s focus now shifts to the domestic campaign this weekend, where his Crew have lost two of their previous three contests, conceding three goals in those two defeats.

That has them six points behind the Union for first in the conference, while Inter Miami are only two points below them in fifth with three games in hand.

Their away form has let them down lately, as they have won just one of their previous seven regular-season fixtures played outside Lower.com Field.

Columbus have won their last seven MLS affairs when leading at the interval while dropping points only once in that scenario all year (1-1 draw at San Diego FC).

They are undefeated in their previous seven matches played against New York City across all competitions, beating them 3-2 at Yankee Stadium in the 2024 regular season.

New York City FC Major League Soccer form:

New York City FC form (all competitions):

Columbus Crew Major League Soccer form:

Columbus Crew form (all competitions):

Team News

Leg injuries to Keaton Park, Thiago Martins and Malachi Jones could keep all three of them out of the NYCFC lineup for this upcoming fixture.

Alonso Martinez had a hat trick in their wild 4-3 triumph over Dallas, while Jonathan Shore netted for the first time in his MLS career.

A sore knee could leave former New York City FC defender Malte Amundsen out of the Crew lineup Saturday, while Nicholas Hagen and Rudy Camacho are dealing with thigh strains and Mohamed Farsi is doubtful with a pelvic injury.

Diego Rossi scored from the penalty spot against Orlando City to give them the lead, only for Columbus to concede three times in the final 14 minutes plus stoppage time.

New York City FC possible starting lineup:

Freese; Ilenic, Tanasijevic, Haak, O’Toole; O’Neill, Perea; N. Fernandez, Moralez, Ojeda; Martinez

Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:

Schulte; Moreira, Zawadzki, Cheberko, Arfsten; Jones, Chambost, Nagbe, Gazdag; Rossi, Russell-Rowe

We say: New York City FC 1-1 Columbus Crew

Five of the last six regular-season games between these two have ended either in a draw or a one-goal win, and we expect to see another close match where each may be content with a point, given neither got much of a rest because of the Leagues Cup.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.