Preview: St Louis City vs Real Salt Lake - prediction, team news, lineups

With their playoff hopes firmly hanging in the balance, Real Salt Lake will head to the CITYPARK on Sunday for their final MLS regular-season fixture against St Louis City.

Despite having little to play for, the hosts will be keen to draw the curtain on their campaign with maximum points on home turf, where they are without a victory since early August.

Match preview

St Louis City took the MLS by storm during their debut appearance in 2023, when they finished top of the Western Conference, but subsequent seasons have been underwhelming to say the least.

Picking up just 37 points from 34 matches, David Critchley's men could only manage a 12th-place finish the following year and are set to finish one spot below that this time around.

Now up to 10 points from the last 15 available courtesy of a 3-1 triumph over Austin on October 5, the Missouri-based outfit will be hoping that their strong end to the current campaign sets the foundation for an improved showing next season.

Managing the joint-fewest home victories of any MLS side (four) alongside Kansas City and the San Jose Earthquakes, St Louis City can attribute a large degree of their struggles to a poor home form, something they will be keen to improve upon going forward.

A victory this weekend would be a good starting point, but Sunday's hosts have a poor record against the visitors, with no wins from five subsequent matchups after claiming a resounding 4-0 victory in the first-ever meeting.

A run of six defeats from nine matches is not what you will usually expect from a team in the hunt for a postseason berth, and Real Salt Lake can count themselves lucky to still be competing for a place in the playoffs ahead of Sunday's finale.

Pablo Mastroeni's men saw their two-game winning run end at the hands of the Seattle Sounders last time out, as Paul Rothrock's early strike proved enough to settle a tight affair in Washington.

The Claret and Cobalt are currently ninth in the Western Conference, level on points with the Colorado Rapids and one behind FC Dallas, meaning that anything less than a win this weekend could see them miss out on the playoffs.

While St Louis City have been poor at home, most of Real Salt Lake's struggles have come on enemy territory, where they have managed just three wins from 16 matches ahead of Sunday's trip.

St Louis City Major League Soccer form:

Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:

Team News

St Louis' Rasmus Alm is still facing an extended spell out of action with a hip problem that has seen him feature just once since the turn of the campaign.

Cedric Teuchert also remains out of the fold for the home side through injury, but fellow German Michael Wentzel is nearing a return to action.

Kobi Henry, Diego Luna and Braian Ojeda are all on international duty at the moment and are huge doubts to play any part for Real Salt Lake in Sunday's encounter.

Jose Segura Bonilla and Javain Brown miss out due to knee problems, while Matthew Bell and Zac MacMath are currently nursing muscle and back injuries respectively.

St Louis City possible starting lineup:

Burki; Totland, Fall, Kessler, Wallem; Hartel, Durkin, Morales; Pompeu, Klauss, Jeong

Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:

Cabral; Katranis, Glad, Ramirez, Yedlin; Eneli, Ruiz, Caliskan, Goncalves; Piol, Cruz