Preview: Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota United - prediction, team news, lineups

Real Salt Lake will be aiming to consolidate their position inside the Western Conference playoff qualification spots with a positive result against Minnesota United on Sunday.

The visitors, meanwhile, lie six points adrift of their forthcoming opponents, but they do possess two games in hand on them.

Match preview

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Having qualified for the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, Salt Lake will expect to be involved in MLS' business end of the campaign once again.

Pablo Mastroeni's side have made a decent start to the current campaign, with their impressive 3-1 victory away to St Louis in midweek moving them four points clear of their nearest competitors in the table.

After Diego Luna and Nicholas Gioacchini traded strikes during the early exchanges at CITYPARK, Damir Kreilach's second-half brace took the game away from the hosts, with Mastroeni's team holding onto all three points in a dominant display.

Although some of the teams beneath them in the Western Conference - including their forthcoming opponents - do have games in hand on them, Mastroeni and his players will be confident of strengthening their grip inside the playoff spots across the coming weeks, having been there and done so on plenty of occasions in recent years.

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Likewise, having qualified for the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, Minnesota will be disappointed should they miss out for the first time since 2018.

Admittedly, the Loons have been knocked out at the first-round stage on three of those four occasions, with their run to the semi-finals in 2020 representing their best league effort since being admitted as an MLS expansion team in 2017.

Former England U21 international Adrian Heath has been in charge for the entirety of that timeframe, having previously enjoyed two spells with Orlando City, with whom he won USL Coach of the Year two years running in 2011 and 2012.

While the 62-year-old will not be panicking just yet regarding his team having some ground to make up on the playoff positions, five successive games without a win in all competitions has seen them drop to 12th in the table, making claiming a positive result on Sunday all the more important.

Team News

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Salt Lake will remain without Erik Holt, Zack Farnsworth and Alex Kei due to injury, but former Everton full-back Bryan Oviedo returned from a calf injury to appear from the bench during the win against St Louis in midweek.

It may be too soon for the 33-year-old to return to the hosts' starting XI, with Mastroeni unlikely to be chomping at the bit to make any alterations to a winning formula.

Minnesota, meanwhile, will travel without Bakaye Dibassy, Ryen Jiba, Mikael Marques, Robin Lod and Kemar Lawrence due to injury, while Luis Amarilla is still unavailable for selection.

Unlike his counterpart, Heath may be tempted to make several changes after seeing his side thrashed 4-0 by Montreal last time out, with Emanuel Reynoso likely to return to the visitors' lineup.

Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:

Beavers; Eneli, Glad, Vera, Brody; Jacquesson, Loffelsend, Ruiz, Luna; Kreilach, Musovski

Minnesota United possible starting lineup:

Clair; Valentin, Boxall, Tapias, Taylor; Reynoso, Dotson, Trapp, Rosales, Fragapane; Garcia

We say: Real Salt Lake 2-1 Minnesota United

Minnesota's form has significantly dipped in recent weeks, leaving them with plenty of work to do in terms of making the playoff spots, and we can envisage Salt Lake putting further distance between the two sides with a victory.

The hosts were impressive last time out when beating St Louis, who had began the match top of the Western Conference table, and will expect to kick on across the coming weeks.

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