Austin FC and New York Red Bulls meet for just the third time in MLS history on Saturday night, with both sides looking to improve on their current positions in their respective conferences.
It’s the visitors who take more momentum into this match following three straight victories. They rattled in eight goals across those three fixtures, having also scored seven in just one game against LA Galaxy last month. Things are clearly clicking in the final third for Sandro Schwarz’s men, but they have blown hot and cold to some extent, also losing four of their last nine.
Austin are hoping to inflict another defeat on them here, but they’ve had a hard time picking up the victories in Texas of late. All of the last four visitors to the Q2 Stadium have left with a result of some form, but Austin can take belief from a solid 2-0 win in Colorado just before the international break, a result which ended an eight-game winless run.
How the bookies view it: Austin favoured to end wait for home win
Boylesports make Austin the 21/20 favourites to record back-to-back victories by winning this match. You can back the draw at 11/5, while NY Red Bulls are out at 23/10 to secure maximum points despite the excellent run they are on.
Recent head-to-head: Little history between the two
These clubs have only met twice before, so there’s not much head-to-head to go off, but the Red Bulls have shaded things, taking four points from the previous meetings. That includes a thrilling 4-3 victory on their last visit to Austin in 2022.
Players to watch: Choupo-Moting the big threat
With the home team struggling slightly in the final third, the main goal threat in this game may come from Eric Choupo-Moting. The NY Red Bulls forward is on fire right now with six goals in his last six games. 64% of his strikes this season have come in the first half, and he’s priced at 13/2 to score first in this game.
Predicted Lineups
Centre-back Julio Cascante is expected to be the only injury absentee for Austin who may not change much after an overdue victory last time out.
NY Red Bulls are dealing with a few more issues, with Lewis Morgan, Dylan Nealis and Felipe Carballo currently out, but they’re in good form and Schwarz will want to keep the momentum building with another win.
Austin: Stuver, Desler, Hines-Ike, Svatok, Biro, Bukari, Pereira, Sabovic, Gallagher, Wolff, Vazquez.
New York Red Bulls: Coronel, Duncan, Hack, Eile, Valencia, Carmona, Edelman, Stroud, Harper, Forsberg, Choupo-Moting.
Anything else catch the eye?
With NY Red Bulls on a three-game winning streak, and Austin struggling to convert one point into three at home, the Texans do little to justify their status as such clear favourites for this game. Given that, backing NY Red Bulls or draw at 4/6 with Boylesports may be worth considering.
With the same bookmaker, you can back under 2.5 goals at 7/10, a winning bet in all of Austin’s last six MLS matches.
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