New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire: Preview and Prediction

New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire;
MLS Eastern Conference.
Date: Thursday, 19-May-2016.
Kick-off: 00:30 GMT
Venue: Red Bull Arena, NY.

New York Red Bulls host Chicago Fire Soccer Club on Wednesday evening in the battle of two teams at the bottom end of the Eastern Conference table.

The Red Bulls were comprehensively beaten by DC United 2-0 in the weekend. They had lost 7 of their 11 matches in the league so far this season and a 6 points gap with Eastern Conference leaders Montreal Impact means that it’s not too late to start repairing the damages.

Chicago Fire were defeated 2-0 by New England Revolution in the last round and are coming on the back of two consecutive losses. They are also without a win in their last 5 matches, with 2 draws and 3 losses. They have won just once in their 9 matches so far, which also left them without a win on the road so far this season.

New York Red Bulls: Predicted Line-up (4-2-2-2)

Robles – Zizzo, Duvall, Collin, Lawrence – Felipe, McCarty – Kljestan, Grella – Veron, Wright-Phillips.

Chicago Fire: Predicted Line-up (5-3-2)

Lampson – Harrington, Kappelhof, Campbell, Meira, Vincent – Polster, Alvarez, Thiam – Igboananike, Gilberto.

New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire: Head-to-Head Stats

• New York Red Bulls have won in the last two meetings with Chicago Fire, while lost in the previous three.
• Four of the last five matches between the sides have seen over 2.5 goals.
• The teams share 2 wins each in the last 4 matches played at Red Bull Arena.
• They have played against each other 28 times, Red Bulls with 8 wins as opposed to 14 wins for Chicago; while 6 were draws.
• Red Bull’s home record against Chicago is 7 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses in 13 matches.

New York Red Bulls vs Chicago Fire: Prediction

Both teams are desperate for a win after the bad start to the campaign. It is still early days in the MLS season, but neither teams want to lose more ground in the league standings.

Red Bulls had won in each of their last two home games and scored 7 goals in the process. But Chicago haven’t won in any of their four away matches this season; also they tasted defeats in their last two. Also Red Bulls were victorious in the last two meetings between the sides.

New York Red Bulls are expected to edge a win here and are likely to score 2 or more goals. The past three meetings between the sides have seen over 4.5 goals, so over 3.5 goals is a good bet for this match.