Nashville welcome Montreal Impact to Nissan Stadium as they seek their first win of the 2021 MLS season. With both teams adopting an open and attacking style in their opening fixtures, there are likely to be goals on Saturday.
Nashville began their 2021 MLS campaign with a 2-2 draw at home against Cincinnati. After a slow start which saw them concede two early goals, they eventually found their rhythm and struck back through efforts from Jhonder Cadiz and Randall Leal.
With their first year in the MLS heavily impacted by tornado damage and COVID 19 struggles, Nashville will be hoping for a return to normalcy in 2021. Manager Gary Smith will take some positives from his team's performance in their opening game, particularly the fightback after going two goals down.
Nashville will be hoping to build their campaign on the solid home form which saw them suffer just two defeats at the Nissan Stadium last season. However, their defence is likely to be a source of worry having kept just one clean sheet in their last five home matches.
Montreal Impact put up a fine attacking display in their opening MLS fixture as they claimed a 4-2 victory over Toronto FC.
They made a bright start and went two goals up though Mason Toye and Romell Quioto while Victor Wanyama and Djordje Mihailovic added further goals after the break.
It was the perfect start for Montreal who are hoping to improve on last season’s ninth place finish in the Eastern Conference.
Manager Wilfried Nancy will be pleased with his team’s attacking display but is likely be concerned with the two goals conceded. Their defence has been a source of worry for a while now as they are without a clean sheet in their last 17 MLS matches, stretching back to last season.
How the bookies view it
Nashville go into Saturday’s match as favourites among the bookies with William Hill offering 4/6 for a home win. A victory for Montreal is valued at 9/2 by the same firm while a draw is set at odds of 14/5 by bet365.
Head to head
There have been only two previous matches between Nashville and Montreal with Gary Smith’s men claiming 1-0 wins in both matches.
Players to watch
Jhonder Cadiz is expected to lead the line for Nashville for much of the season and has already hit the ground running with his goal against Cincinnati. Bet365 has the striker at 11/8 to score anytime on Saturday.
Montreal Impact went with the double pivot of Mason Toye and Romell Quioto in attack last time out with both strikers getting on the score sheet. Bet365 has Quioto at 11/4 to score anytime while also backing Toye at 10/3 in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
Nashville and Montreal showed a willingness to attack in their opening fixtures which produced over 3.5 goals. A similar outcome is priced at 2/1 by William Hill, who also value over 2.5 goals at 17/20 while bett365 is offering 4/5 on both teams to score.
With Nashville and Montreal grabbing goals after the break in their opening fixtures, it might be worth backing both teams to score in the second half at 12/5 with bet365. The second half could also be picked as the highest scoring half at 21/20 with bet365.
This MLS match between Nashville and Montreal Impact will be played on Apr 24, 2021 and kick off at 19:00. Check below for our tipsters best Nashville vs Montreal Impact prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
