New England Revolution will be looking to snap a run of five matches without a victory when they lock horns against Nashville SC at the Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
Nashville, meanwhile, make the trip to Foxborough aiming to continue their recent resurgence and a late push for a place in the playoffs.
Match preview
Just two days after surrendering a two-goal lead to play out a 2-2 stalemate, New England Revolution were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Charlotte in Sunday's meeting at the Bank of America Stadium.
Caleb Porter's men held their resolve until six minutes before the break, with Liel Abada opening the scoring, after which Pep Biel, Patrick Agyemang and Kerwin Vargas netted in the second period to put the result beyond doubt.
Watching his side struggle for the umpteenth time, Porter evidently cut a frustrated figure at the sound of the final whistle having been booked during the game just over two weeks since incurring a one-game ban for his post-match comments against St Louis City.
Since claiming a 5-0 triumph over CF Montreal in their first league game after Leagues Cup duty, the Revs have now picked up just two points from their subsequent five league games, leaving them bottom of the Eastern Conference in the MLS table.
Nonetheless, New England Revolution retain a faint chance of making it through to the postseason, as they currently sit eight points shy of Philadelphia in ninth heading into their final five matches of the season.
Heading into this weekend's encounter, Sunday's hosts have already got the better of their visitors twice this year and will fancy their chances of coming out on top once again.
Nashville suffered 10 consecutive defeats across all competitions between June 30 and September 15 but have since got themselves back on track with seven points from their last three matches.
Brian Joseph Callaghan's men were on course for a third win on the bounce last time out after going into the interval narrowly ahead courtesy of a Sam Surridge brace either side of Luciano Acosta's strike before Luca Orellano restored parity in the early exchanges of the second period.
One of three teams currently tied on 33 points, the Boys in Gold are just three points shy of playoff contention in what is shaping up to be a frenetic battle with only three points separating the six teams just outside the final automatic playoff place.
With three of their remaining four regular-season games coming on the road where they have won just one of seven games leading up to Sunday's affair, the away side will need to turn things around on enemy territory to stand any chance of making it through to the playoffs.
Team News
Dylan Borrero received his marching orders less than 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute for New England Revolution last time out, ruling him out of contention for Sunday.
Tim Parker also misses out due to an accumulation of yellow cards, while Tomas Chancalay and Brandon Bye are unavailable through knee and ankle injuries respectively.
Defender Will Sands has missed each of his side's last three games due to a leg injury and is likely to be out of contention once again here.
Canadian duo Lukas MacNaughton and Jacob Shaffelburg are both ruled for Nashville SC, with the former not expected to feature again this season.
Tyler Boyd and Jack Maher will also not be playing any part for the away side as they continue to battle with knee and lower-body injuries.
New England Revolution possible starting lineup:
Ivacic; Miller, Lima, Arreaga, Bye; Polster, Yusuf; N Gil, C Gil, Bajraktarevic; Vrioni
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Gaines, Zimmerman, Bauer, Lovitz, Washington; Yazbek, Anunga, Mukhtar; Perez, Surridge
We say: New England Revolution 1-1 Nashville SC
Despite all of New England Revolution's struggles, they have been hard to beat in front of their fans. We are backing a share of the spoils in this one, with both teams settling for a point apiece.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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