Needing a draw to guarantee their spot in the playoffs, Houston Dynamo take a trip to the CityPark to face St Louis City in their penultimate game of the MLS regular season on Saturday.
Both sides head into the weekend off the back of contrasting results, with the hosts losing against Los Angeles FC while Orange Crush picking up a hard-fought victory over New England Revolution.
Match preview
St Louis City were sent back down to earth on Thursday morning as they suffered a 1-0 defeat against title-chasing Los Angeles FC when the two sides squared off at the BMO Stadium.
Gabonese striker Denis Bouanga netted his 19th league goal on the stroke of half time to hand Los Angeles FC the win and keep them within six points of rivals Los Angeles Galaxy in first-place, albeit with one game in hand.
Prior to that, St Louis City picked up back-to-back league wins for the first time since October 2023 as they beat San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 at PayPal Park on September 22, one week before seeing off Sporting Kansas City 3-1 on home turf.
John Hackworth's men have lost 12 32 MLS games this season while claiming seven wins and seven draws to collect 34 points and sit 12th in the Western Conference standings, 11 points off the play-in spots heading into the final two games.
Houston Dynamo, on the other hand, are now on the cusp of sealing a playoff spot for the second consecutive year as they picked up a 2-1 victory over New England Revolution when the two sides squared off in midweek.
Following a goalless first half at the Shell Energy Stadium, Ezequiel Ponce and former Danish international Erik Sviatchenko scored either side of Carles Gil's 54th-minute equaliser to hand the hosts all three points.
This followed a 1-0 defeat against Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field on September 29, when Paul Rothrock's first-half strike saw the Orange Crush's five-game unbeaten run in the league come to an end.
With just two games left to go in the regular season, Ben Olsen's side currently sit fifth in the Western Conference table with 51 points, six points above eighth-placed Minnesota United just outside the guaranteed playoff qualifying places.
While Houston Dynamo have lost their previous two visits to CityPark, they are on a run of four wins from their last five MLS away games and will be backing themselves to secure the desired result this weekend.
Team News
St Louis City will take to the pitch without the services of Chris Durkin and Czech midfielder Tomas Ostrak, who have been sidelined through knee and ankle injuries respectively.
They are joined on the club's injury table by 24-year-old midfielder Cwlio Pompeu, who has been out of action since coming off with a foot injury in June's game against Dallas.
Indiana Vassilev has been sidelined since picking up an injury following the clash with San Jose Earthquakes on September 22 and the American forward will play no part in this weekend's clash.
As for Houston Dynamo, they will have to cope without the services of experienced defender David Steres, who is suspended after crossing the yellow card threshold with his booking against New England Revolution last time out.
On the injury front, Olsen will be unable to call upon several players down the spine of the team, including the likes of Nelson Quinones (knee), Ponce (thigh) and Hector Herrera (hamstring).
German forward Lawrence Ennali has missed the last six matches since picking up a knee injury in September while Ghanaian forward Latif Blessing is a doubts after picking up knocks against the Revs last time out.
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Lundt; Nerwinski, Kessler, Nilsson, Reid; Alm, Loewen, Girdwood-Reich, Hartel; Teuchert, Klauss
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Clark; Schmitt, Sviatchenko, Micael, Escobar; Carrasquilla, Artur; Moreno, Bassi. Aliyu; Kowalczyk
We say: St Louis City 1-3 Houston Dynamo
While St Louis City will be playing for pride, Houston Dynamo set out looking to seal their spot in the playoffs and we expect them to go all out at CityPark this weekend. Olsen's men head into the weekend as the more in-form side and we are backing them to come away with the desired result.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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