New York City FC have a chance to match their longest unbeaten run from the 2021 Major League Soccer regular season as they host the Chicago Fire at Citi Field on Sunday.
The reigning MLS Cup champions have not lost in five consecutive domestic encounters, blanking DC United 2-0 in midweek, while Chicago are winless in eight straight league contests, drawing the New York Red Bulls 3-3 in their previous match.
Match preview
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Since the end of April, we have seen the New York team that we all expected at the start of the year, scoring plenty of goals and finding ways to earn points.
Currently sitting second in the Eastern Conference, Ronny Deila deserves a ton of praise for being able to put his players in the best position to succeed.
We have seen their attacking qualities on full display, scoring multiple goals in six of their last seven games in all competitions.
In addition to that, they have been equally sharp on the back end, collecting four consecutive clean sheets in league play.
Like a season ago, everybody on this squad is playing a part in their success at the moment, with nine different players having found the back of the net, two fewer than they had in the entire 2021 regular season.
Heading into their road fixture on Wednesday at Audi Field, their Norwegian boss urged his group to show more creativity while being more adventurous on their set plays, and we saw them cause a lot of problems in both of those areas versus DC United.
What has to be scary for other MLS clubs is that the defending champions have won matches in various ways of late, be it with stout defending and closing down the dangerous scoring areas or by overpowering teams with their attacking depth in the final third.
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Even though they put an end to a four-game losing streak this week, Ezra Hendrickson and his Chicago Fire players were in no mood to celebrate a draw at Red Bull Arena, in a match which felt more like a loss.
On Wednesday, Hendrickson saw his group score a go-ahead marker in the 89th minute, only to concede two minutes later, as they have now allowed a goal beyond the 85th minute in five successive domestic encounters.
An inability to manage games has been among the major issues plaguing this team on their current slump, as they have failed to hold onto a second-half advantage in each of their last two games.
They were the stingiest defensive unit in MLS over their first six matches of 2022, but opposing teams have been able to get through them with relative ease in recent fixtures, with the Fire conceding 14 goals over their previous four encounters after only allowing two before that.
When under pressure on the back end, these players have made critical errors, particularly last weekend at home, as an own goal and a giveaway cost them points against FC Cincinnati.
The Fire have never won a road contest against the Boys in Blue, failing to find the back of the net in three of their four previous visits to the Big Apple.
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Team News
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The longest-serving player with the Cityzens will be sticking around for a few more years, as the club announced on Monday that they have resigned defender Maxime Chanot until 2024.
Valentin Castellanos, who scored his team-leading seventh of the campaign versus DC United, will not be available for this game due to a yellow card suspension, while Alexander Callens notched his second of the year on Wednesday and Chris Gloster collected his first assist of the season.
Tayvon Gray will be questionable because of an illness, Malte Amundsen has a lower-body issue and Anton Tinnerholm will be on the sidelines with an Achilles tendon injury.
In midweek, Chris Mueller scored his first goal in a Chicago uniform since transferring from Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League, Wyatt Omsberg tallied for the first time this season and Xherdan Shaqiri moved into the team lead with his third strike of 2022.
Rafael Czichos, who scored an own goal in their defeat to Cincinnati, missed their previous game with a right lower leg issue, Javier Casas has a pelvic strain and Spencer Richey is unlikely to feature because of a head injury.
Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina has conceded 10 goals in his previous three road fixtures, while Kacper Przybylko has not found the back of the net since March.
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Johnson; Chanot, Callens, Martins, Amundsen; Morales, Zelalem; Magno, Rodriguez, Andrade; Heber
Chicago Fire possible starting lineup:
Slonina; M. Navarro, Omsberg, Teran, Espinoza; Pineda, F. Navarro; Gimenez, Shaqiri, Mueller; Przybylko
We say: New York City FC 2-0 Chicago Fire
Even without last season's Golden Boot winner, we expect to see a relatively comfortable victory for the Pigeons on Sunday as they possess as much depth as any team in MLS, while the Fire have had some miserable defensive displays in recent weeks.
For additional data used by our team to analyse our suggested result please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
