Preview: Real Salt Lake vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

Real Salt Lake will be looking to avoid a third defeat on the bounce when they welcome Vancouver Whitecaps to the America First Field on Sunday.

The visitors, meanwhile, will be aiming to return to winning ways having recently suffered a first defeat in five league matches last time out.

Match preview

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Real Salt Lake were on the receiving end of an agonising 3-1 defeat at the hands of FC Dallas when the teams faced off against each other on Thursday morning.

Pablo Mastroeni‘s men took the lead on the stroke of half time through Cristian Arango before Paul Arriola‘s equaliser and a Jesus Ferreira double turned the game on its head.

As a result, the Claret and Cobalt have dropped down to sixth in the Western Conference of the MLS table and are now looking anxiously over their shoulders in the race for the final playoff place.

Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose between the teams as the last 18 meetings have yielded eight wins apiece and two draws.

Unbeaten in seven of their last nine games on home turf, Sunday’s hosts will be confident of coming away with another positive result in front of their fans.

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Vancouver Whitecaps were left red-faced in their encounter against Houston Dynamo on Thursday which ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Shell Energy Stadium.

Goals from Hector Herrera, Griffin Dorsey, Ivan Franco and Aliyu Ibrahim put Vanni Sartini‘s men to the sword after which Erik Sviatchenko scored a late own goal.

With 41 points amassed from 28 matches so far, the Blue-and-White sit fifth in the Western Conference standings, one point and one place clear of their next opponents.

Having been beaten for the first time in five away matches last time out, Sunday’s visitors set out to avoid consecutive losses on the road for the first time since May.

Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:

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Cristian Arango has found the back of the net in four straight games for Real Salt Lake and the forward is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Erik Holt has not featured for the home side in four months due to a long-term shoulder injury which will keep him out of this weekend’s contest as well.

Canadian duo Thomas Hasal and Sam Adekugbe remain sidelined for Vancouver Whitecaps through injury but the latter is closing in on a return to action.

Thirty-one-year-old Luis Martins is also unavailable for selection as he prepares to sit out a ninth game on the bounce due to a knee problem.

Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
MacMath; Hidalgo, Glad, Silva, Oviedo; Chang, Ojeda, Palacio, Savarino; Arango, Kreilach

We say: Real Salt Lake 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps

Neither team is short of attacking firepower heading into this one and we are anticipating a highly entertaining affair. We can also see Real Salt Lake making home advantage count by coming out on top, albeit by only a narrow margin.

How to watch

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For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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