The MLS season reaches gameweek four at the weekend as St Louis City host San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The hosts are sitting pretty at the top of the table, whilst their visitors are fifth with six points from their opening three matches.
Match preview
It has been a dream start to the season for Bradley Carnell's St Louis, who are in their debut season in the MLS having become the league's 28th franchise in 2022.
City are top of the Western Conference having won all of their early season games so far, scoring eight goals and conceding four in the process.
Last time out the Missouri outfit triumphed 2-1 away at Portland Timbers with Kyle Hiebert bagging the winner from a corner in the 75th minute - a third successive come-from-behind victory to start the campaign.
Indeed, St Louis are the first MLS team to win three successive matches in which they trailed since LA Galaxy in August 2015, and the first team ever to do so in the first three matches of a season.
They could extend their lead at the top of the table to six points with a fourth successive win on Sunday against the Quakes - a result which might begin to raise hopes of a historic title.
Even a playoff place would be a fantastic achievement for a team who were only founded in 2019 and Carnell's side have the chance to open up a 10-point gap to 10th-placed Sporting Kansas City with a victory over San Jose.
One of the most impressive aspects of St Louis' start to the campaign is that they have spread goals around the team, with forward Joao Klauss and winger Jared Stroud both scoring twice whilst Eduard Lowen, Hiebert and Tim Parker have also all netted a goal each.
The fact that they are not overly reliant on a single talisman bodes well for their prospects moving forward as they evidently have several ways to hurt teams, although a first MLS clean sheet will also be welcome at the other end of the pitch.
Luchi Gonzalez's San Jose are also enjoying a fine season as they have recorded back-to-back wins following a 2-1 defeat on the opening day to Atlanta United, leaving them fifth in the table heading into the weekend.
The California outfit travel to Missouri off the back of a 1-0 win at home to the Colorado Rapids last weekend after Cristian Espinoza netted the winner with 12 minutes to play.
The Quakes are already well on course to improve on last season's dreadful campaign, when they finished bottom of the division and lost 15 matches.
A third consecutive victory on Sunday morning against the league leaders would be a huge statement of intent and would take them level on points with their hosts.
San Jose's tally of just three goals conceded is the joint-third best record in the division so far, a dramatic turnaround from last term when they had the leakiest defence in the Western Conference, letting in 69 in their 34 games.
The Quakes won only one away game in the whole of last season and, coupled with the beginning of the current campaign, no team in the MLS has won fewer matches on the road since the beginning of 2022.
Their watertight backline will give them confidence that they can frustrate St Louis on Sunday before trying to hit them on the break as they aim to improve their form away from their own fans.
Ahead of the weekend, San Jose will be buoyed by the fact that they are one of only four teams to be unbeaten against expansion teams since 2019, winning three of their four matches against such opponents.
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Team News
St Louis City will be without left winger Isak Jensen, who has an ankle injury, and centre-back Joakim Nilsson, who has undergone knee surgery.
Jared Stroud will keep his place on the left flank and Hiebert and Parker will be City's central defensive partnership once again
San Jose defender Nathan is out of the clash with St Louis due to a cruciate ligament injury, so Jonathan Mensah and Rodrigues will play at the heart of the Quakes' defence.
Luchi Gonzalez has something of a crisis of midfield options against St Louis, as Judson and Niko Tsakiris are missing with knee and abductor muscle injuries, respectively, whilst Jamiro Monteiro is suspended after being sent off against Colorado.
Carlos Gruezo and Cam Cilley are all in line to start for San Jose in their places with Gruezo protecting the back four and Cilley supporting the front three.
Jeremy Ebobisse will take up the lone striker role in the 4-3-3 system and be supported by Cade Cowell and Espinoza on the flanks.
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Nerwinski, Parker, Hiebert, Nelson; Perez, Vassilev, Lowen; Alm, Klauss, Stroud
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Akapo, Rodrigues, Mensah, Trauco; Gruezo, Cilley, Yueill; Espinoza, Ebobisse, Cowell
We say: St Louis City 2-1 San Jose Earthquakes
St Louis are flying right now and their momentum should carry them through this game.
San Jose's dreadful away record means that City will be confident of making it four wins in a row in front of their own fans on Sunday morning.
How to watch
You can watch St Louis City vs. San Jose Earthquakes and every MLS match this season live on Apple TV. Click here for more details on how to subscribe.For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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