Preview: Saint Louis City vs. Charlotte FC - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts stunned Austin FC last time out to win their first-ever MLS match, while the visitors will enter this contest looking to bounce back from defeat against the New England Revolution.

Match preview

Joao Klauss handed Saint Louis City their first-ever Major League Soccer victory in their first-ever match, sending the expansion club into dreamland last weekend at Q2 Stadium.

The Brazilian striker's 86th-minute strike beat Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver, sealing a 3-2 comeback victory over one of the Western Conference club's strongest sides, and also ensured that Bradley Carnell's side became the first expansion team to win their inaugural game since Los Angeles FC in 2018.

As a result of that maiden victory, Saint Louis City currently sit second in the Western Conference, and Carnell will be eager to see his side build on such a positive result from last weekend.

Now the attention turns to Saint Louis' home opener against a Charlotte side that finished with 42 points last season, and narrowly missed out on the playoffs in their debut campaign.

Having become the 28th franchise to compete in the MLS, Charlotte FC will take all the positives that they can from last year's debut campaign as they finished ninth in the Eastern Conference.

They picked up 13 wins, three draws and lost 18 of their 34 matches to collect 42 points, just above New England Revolution on goal difference and missing out on the playoffs by just six points.

Charlotte failed to make a winning start to their 2023 MLS campaign, losing 1-0 to the Revolution, courtesy of a late Henry Kessler strike.

Christian Lattanzio will want to see improvement from his side on the road this season, as they only managed to pick up three wins from 17 games on the road last term.

Saint Louis City Major League Soccer form:

W

Charlotte FC Major League Soccer form:

W

W

W

D

L

L

Team News

Bradley Carnell has no fresh injury concerns heading into this clash, so we would not be surprised to see him name an unchanged side from the one that beat Austin on the opening day.

Tim Parker wrote his name into Saint Louis City's history books in Saturday's 3-2 win by scoring the club's opening goal in MLS against the Verde and Black, so he will no doubt keep his place in the starting XI here.

Joao Klauss will eager to add to his MLS tally after opening his account with the winning goal last weekend, while Roman Burki will have keeping a clean sheet in his sights in his home debut.

Meanwhile, Ashley Westwood and Enzo Copetti both made their debuts for Charlotte last time out, and it seems likely that they will retain their places for the trip to Missouri this weekend.

Adilson Malanda and Bill Tuiloma are expected to make up the heart of the Charlotte defence, while Lattanzio will be unable to call upon the services of Guzman Corujo and Adam Armour, who have been sidelined through ACL and meniscus injuries respectively.

Saint Louis City possible starting lineup:

Burki; Nerwinski, Hiebert, Parker, Nelson; Vassilev, Lowen; Stroud, Ostrak, Alm; Klauss

Charlotte FC possible starting lineup:

Sisniega; Bryne, Malanda, Tuiloma, Mora; Swiderski, Bronico, Westwood; Gaines, Copetti, Jozwiak

We say: Saint Louis City 1-0 Charlotte FC

We think that the momentum will be with Saint Louis City coming into this clash, after their historic win against Austin, and that they will use it to their advantage here.

Charlotte were slow out of the blocks last season, losing their first three games, so we think Saint Louis City will claim all three points.

How to watch

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