Cincinnati have had to endure a miserable 6-match losing streak in recent weeks in the MLS, but they may stand a reasonable chance of ending this poor sequence of results when they play host to Western Conference outfit, Houston Dynamo, when the two teams square off at the Nippert Stadium in Ohio on Saturday night.
Recent defeats to Orlando City, New York Red Bulls, Colorado Rapids, New York City, LA Galaxy and Minnesota United have left Cincinnati firmly rooted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 11 points to their name to date.
4 of these 6 defeats however, were inflicted upon Cincinnati on their travels, while on home turf, the hosts have had a slightly better time of things as they’ve collected 2 wins and a draw within their 7 home matches so far this season.
This obviously means Cincinnati have lost 4 matches at their Nippert Stadium as well, but wins against Portland Timbers 3-0 and a 2-1 victory against Montreal Impact gives the hosts a glimmer of hope of ending their losing streak at home on Saturday.
Western Conference opponents, Houston Dynamo, occupy 5th place and come into this encounter in Cincinnati on the back of a resounding 4-0 win over New York Red Bulls which they’ll be hoping gives them some momentum heading into this clash.
However, Houston’s results are top heavy in favour of home turf at their BBVA Stadium where they’ve posted 7 of their total of 8 wins to date, so this trip to bottom club Cincinnati is far from being a walk in the park.
Cincinnati aren’t the only ones to have had to endure a poor sequence of results of late as Houston have suffered a 6-match losing streak on the road which includes losses at LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Minnesota United, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes and New England Revolution.
To make matters worse, Houston have failed to score in 4 of their 7 matches away from home so far this season, so they’ll do well to get any sort of result against Cincinnati here.
As Cincinnati are a new franchise club in the MLS there’s very limited data in terms of sample size, and indeed, this will be the very first meeting between Cincinnati and Houston Dynamo in the MLS, but the hosts may just have the edge here.