Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Major League Soccer clash between New England Revolution and Orlando City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
New England Revolution will look to bounce back from a defeat to the Seattle Sounders when they play host to Orlando City in Saturday’s MLS contest.
Meanwhile, Orlando will be looking to continue their promising spell of form after winning three of their last four matches
Match preview
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After putting in a four-game winning run, New England have experienced a slight drop-off in recent outings, with two of their last three matches ending in defeat.
They fell to a heavy 5-1 loss in their home meeting with Columbus Crew, before they returned to winning ways with a narrow 2-1 win over Atlanta United.
However, they were unable to back up that result in their most recent fixture, as they slumped to a 2-0 away defeat against Seattle.
Having won seven, drawn one and lost 12 of their 20 matches, New England are sitting in 12th place and two points adrift of the top eight, although they do have at least two games in hand over the teams above them.
The Revolution will have to improve in the final third if they are to climb up the standings, with Caleb Porter‘s side currently the lowest scorers in the MLS after netting just 20 goals in as many games.
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Orlando are in seventh place and five points better off than their hosts after winning seven, drawing six and losing nine of their 22 MLS matches.
Oscar Pareja‘s charges endured a five-game winless run, before they recently turned the corner to record three wins in four matches, including victories in their last two outings.
After coming from a goal down to beat Toronto, the Lions produced a free-scoring display to cruise to a 5-0 win over DC United thanks to goals from Martin Ojeda, Robert Jansson, Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres and Ramiro Enrique.
Orlando may have won just one of their last five matches on their travels, but they can still be encouraged by the fact they have the fourth-best away record in the Eastern Conference, having taken 15 points from their 11 MLS road trips.
However, the Lions are still searching for their first away win over New England after drawing two and losing six of their previous eight trips to Gillette Stadium.
New England Revolution Major League Soccer form:
Orlando City Major League Soccer form:
Team News
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New England are unable to call upon the injured quartet of Tomas Chancalay, Carles Gil, Nacho Gil and Peyton Miller, while there are doubts surrounding the availability of Nick Lima, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Dylan Borrero and Emmanuel Boateng.
Tommy McNamara could be considered for a starting spot after he came off the bench against Seattle to make his first appearance since his return from injury.
Giacomo Vrioni will be looking to add to the seven MLS goals he has scored this season when he leads the line against Orlando.
As for the visitors, they are without Mikey Halliday and Mason Stajduhar due to knee and leg injuries, while Tahir Reid-Brown is a doubt because of a thigh issue.
After seeing his side cruise to a 5-0 win last weekend, Pareja may decide to select an unchanged starting lineup for Saturday’s away clash.
Ojeda will be looking to find the net in a third consecutive game after getting on the scoresheet in the wins over Toronto and DC United.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Ivacic; Bye, Arreaga, Romney, Jones; Polster, Harkes; Buck, Bajraktarevic, McNamara; Vrioni
Orlando City possible starting lineup:
Gallese; Thorhallsson, Schlegel, Jansson, Smith; Araujo, Cartagena; Torres, Ojeda, Angulo; McGuire
We say: New England Revolution 2-1 Orlando City
New England may have won three of their previous four home games, but we think they may have to settle for a point when they face an Orlando side that has lost just one of their last five matches.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.