Having made the long trip to play LA Galaxy away from home last weekend, New York City return to the Yankee Stadium to take on New England Revolution in the MLS on Sunday.
New York City begin the weekend fixtures in second place in the Eastern Conference, 4 points adrift of leaders Toronto FC. However, New York City are only 2 points clear of Chicago Fire who are in third place and cannot afford to drop points in this game. New England Revolution are struggling towards the foot on the Eastern Conference and have the awful form of DC United to thank for not being bottom of the table. Despite being 10th in the Eastern Conference, New England Revolution are 6 points away from the playoff places and a win in this game would give them some hope heading towards the end of the regular season.
New York City Form
New York City come into this match having tasted just 1 defeat in their last 5 MLS games. The defeat was a heavy one away to Conference leaders Toronto FC but New York City recovered with wins over New York Red Bulls and LA Galaxy. New York City are extremely tough to beat at home and they have lost only 2 of their last 21 MLS games at the Yankee Stadium. Their last defeat came on the 23rd April against Orlando City.
Since then, New York City have won 6 and drawn 2 of their 8 home MLS games. In each of those 8 games, New York City have scored at least 2 goals and you must go back to November 2016 to find the last time they failed to score at home.
New England Revolution Form
New England Revolution have started to find some life in their season having won 3 of their last 4 MLS games. The wins have come against LA Galaxy, Philadelphia Union and Vancouver Whitecaps. However, all 3 of those wins came at home and the one defeat sandwiched between them was a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Chicago Fire away from home.
New England Revolution struggle on the road and have lost 8 of their 11 away MLS games, drawing the other 3 which means they are yet to win an away MLS match this season. They have conceded 2 or more goals in their last 8 away MLS games.
Team News
New York City will be without defenders Ronald Matarrita and Maxime Chanot plus the midfield duo of Miguel Camargo and James Sands. New England Revolution can call upon a fully fit squad and are likely to start with Teal Bunbury and Kei Kamara in attack.
Top Betting Tips
Given the form of both team’s home and away in the MLS this season, you must back New York City to win this match at odds of 4/6 with Ladbrokes. New York City have been scoring plenty of goals at home this season but have struggled to keep a clean sheet. In fact, they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 11 games so a home win with both teams scoring at 15/8 with Ladbrokes is tempting.
It’s impossible to keep David Villa out of the news and having netted last weekend he is the top scorer in the MLS. The Spanish striker has also scored the first goal 8 times this season. Villa is 11/4 with Ladbrokes to score the first goal of the game.