Cincinnativs.New England

The Orange and Blue have failed to win any of their previous five competitive home games against New England Revolution and will head into the weekend looking to end this poor six-year run.

Match preview

Cincinnati snapped their run of three back-to-back away defeats last Sunday when they turned in a resilient team display to secure a 2-1 comeback victory over Nashville in Texas.

In an action-packed contest at Geodis Park, Josh Bauer netted in the 39th minute to put Nashville in front but Evander restored parity two minutes shy of the half-time break before Togolese striker Kevin Denkey completed the turnaround with a 91st-minute penalty.

Prior to that, Cincinnati were on a three-game winless run across all competitions, a run which saw them crash out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Tigres on March 12 to lose 4-2 on aggregate against the Mexican outfit.

Pat Noonan's men have picked up three wins from their opening six league matches while losing twice and claiming one draw to collect 10 points and sit 8th in the Eastern Conference table but could move level with first-placed Inter Miami with all three points this weekend.

Cincinnati now return to the TQL Stadium, where they are unbeaten in each of their five matches across all competitions this season, picking up three wins and two draws while scoring seven goals and keeping two clean sheets so far.

It took five matches, but New England Revolution finally secured their first win of the new MLS campaign as they narrowly edged out New York Red Bulls 2-1 last Saturday thanks to a a 97th-minute strike from Carles Gil.

The Revs looked set to drop two more points after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting netted on the stroke of half time to cancel out Gil's 28th-minute opener but the Spanish midfielder kept his cool under pressure to convert his 97th-minute penalty and hand the host a last-gasp victory.

Prior to that, New England Revolution kicked off the season with a goalless draw against Nashville at Geodis Park in February's curtain-raiser before suffering consecutive defeats against Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union and New York City FC respectively.

Off the back of a disappointing 14th-placed finish in the Eastern Conference table last term — their worst season performance since joining the league in 1996 — Caleb Porter's men have picked up four points from a possible 15 to sit 13th in the table, only above Montreal and Toronto FC, albeit with one game in hand.

Next up for New England Revolution is a journey to the TQL Stadium, where they are unbeaten in their last five MLS games, claiming four wins and one draw since July 2019.

FC Cincinnati MLS form:

FC Cincinnati form (all competitions):

D

W

L

L

D

W

New England Revolution MLS form:

New England Revolution form (all competitions):

L

D

L

L

L

W

Team News

Cincinnati will take to the pitch without the defensive duo of Matt Miazga and 29-year-old Teenage Hadebe, who have been ruled out through knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

Japanese forward Yuya Kubo missed the game against Nashville last time out through a hamstring problem and the 31-year-old will also sit out this weekend's matchup.

Evander has been on song for Cincinnati this season and the Brazilian forward, who has been involved in six of the Orange and Blue's eight goals this season, will look to deliver the goods once again.

As for the Revs, summer signing Leonardo Campana has missed the last two games since finishing off with a hamstring injury against Philadelphia Union on March 9 and the 24-year-old forward is out of contention for the visitors.

He is joined on the club's injury table by Andrew Farrell and Argentine forward Thomas Chancalay, who have been sidelined through leg and knee problems respectively.

FC Cincinnati possible starting lineup:

Celentano; Hagglund, Robinson, Flores, Yedlin; Bucha, Nwobodo, Engel; Evander, Orellano, Santos

New England Revolution possible starting lineup:

Ivacic; Feingold, Omsberg, Fofana, Miller; Polster, Yusuf; Langoni, Gil, Ganago; Urruti

We say: FC Cincinnati 2-1 New England Revolution

Buoyed by their hard-fought win over New York Red Bulls, New England Revolution will head into the weekend with renewed confidence as they look to put together a fine run of form. However, Cincinnati have been tough to crack on home turf this season and we are backing them to come away with maximum points.

Written by

Joshua Ojele

Previews by email