Another Western Conference clash wraps up this weekend’s action in the MLS as second from bottom club, Portland Timbers, take on 4th placed Dallas at their Providence Park as the hosts look to record back-to-back home wins on Sunday night.
Portland have registered mixed results in recent weeks as the hosts have recorded victories against Philadelphia Union and Houston Dynamo in convincing 3-1 and 4-0 wins but have also suffered defeats to Los Angeles and Montreal Impact in recent times too.
The Timbers have played just 2 home matches to date this season which have ended up in a 3-2 loss to Los Angeles and a 4-0 home win over Houston Dynamo, so there’s little to go on in terms of previous results so far on home soil this season.
The hosts have lost just 1 of their last 9 matches on home turf overall though, so they need to be respected in this encounter, despite a low sample size of results.
However, Portland Timbers have managed just 1 win from their last 4 encounters at home against Sunday night’s visitors, Dallas, so this may be far from being a foregone conclusion here.
Dallas currently occupy 4th place in the Western Conference and they bring a 4-match unbeaten sequence into this Sunday evening clash at Providence Park having recorded wins against Seattle Sounders and Toronto as well as picking up points in draws with San Jose Earthquakes and Vancouver Whitecaps.
The visitors owe their current league position to a fairly solid home record which includes 5 wins and just 1 defeat, but while they’ve collected just 2 away wins so far this season from their 8 matches played to date on the road, Dallas have avoided heavy defeats.
Two wins at Real Salt Lake 4-2 and Atlanta United 2-1 have seen a modest return on their travels so far this season, but they’ve suffered a loss by 2 goals or more in just 1 of their 8 away matches so far in this campaign.
That 2-goal defeat came in the shape of an understandable 2-0 loss away at runaway Western Conference leaders, Los Angeles, but aside from that, Dallas have at least been in all of the games on the road this term.
Dallas have also been a stubborn opponent away at Portland Timbers in recent times and they could sneak the points here.