Minnesota United welcome Houston Dynamo to Allianz Field for a midweek MLS Western Conference showdown. With both teams looking to return to winning ways and improve their position in the standings, an entertaining end to end matchup is expected.
Minnesota come into this encounter following a disappointing 4-2 home defeat to San Diego FC last time out in the league. They led twice through Christopher McVey and Kelvin Yeboah but were undone by poor defending.
The good news for Minnesota United is that it was the first defeat in the last six matches, with three wins in that run. They had also won three of the four matches prior to that defeat and manager Eric Ramsay will be keen to get things back on track.
Houston Dynamo are also coming off a defeat, falling 3-1 at home to CF Montreal. Things have been pretty rough for Ben Olsen's men lately, having failed to win in four of their last five matches, suffering three defeats in that run.
The visitors have fared slightly better on their travels and are unbeaten in four of their last five away matches. They eased to a 3-0 victory over New York City in their previous fixture on the road.
How the bookies view it: Bookies backing Minnesota
The bookies have installed Minnesota United as overwhelming favourites, with a home win priced at 3/4 with BoyleSports. A victory for Houston Dynamo is valued at 3/1 while a draw is set at odds of 13/5.
Head to head: Closely fought encounters
Minnesota United have a 9-8 advantage with seven draws from 24 previous matches against Houston Dynamo. The visitors claimed a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture while the hosts have won four of the last five home meetings.
Players to watch: Reliable Yeboah
Yeboah’s effort last time out took his tally to five MLS goals for Minnesota United and he could be the one to watch. The forward can be tipped to find the net once again (Anytime Goalscorer at 11/10 with BoyleSports).
Ezequiel Ponce could also be worth keeping an eye on for Houston Dynamo having found the net four times this season. The striker could be backed to get on the score sheet once more (Anytime Goalscorer available at 5/2).
Probable lineups:
Samuel Shashoua is out injured for Minnesota United while top scorer Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi is on international duty with Canada at the Gold Cup. However, Wil Trapp, Joaquin Pereyra, and Yeboah are available and expected to continue in the lineup.
Andrew Tarbell, Daniel Steres and Erik Sviatchenko are all unavailable for Houston Dynamo due to injury. However, Ponce should continue in attack while Ondrej Lingr, Amine Bassi and Pounce are expected to start.
Minnesota United: Speel, Markanich, Romero, Diaz, Boxall, Gressel, Pereyra, Gene, Trapp, Hlongwane, Yeboah
Houston Dynamo: Bond, Andrade, Ortiz, Awodesu, Dorsey, Kowalczyk, Artur, Urso, Bassi, Pounce, Lingr
Anything else catch the eye
Both teams have scored in four of the last five matches between Minnesota United and Houston Dynamo (BTTS YES priced at 3/4 with BoyleSports). The visitors have seen over 2.5 goals in their last five matches (over 2.5 goals available at 4/5).
It is always an open contest between these teams and the last five meetings have produced goals in both halves – valued at odds of 8/11.
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