Sports Mole previews Thursday's Major League Soccer clash between Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Seeking to pick up a fourth consecutive victory, Houston Dynamo take on Columbus Crew at the Shell Energy Stadium in MLS on Wednesday evening.
The Crew are without a win in each of their last eight away games against Ben Olsen's men in the league and will head into the midweek clash looking to end this poor run.
Match preview
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Houston Dynamo turned in another performance of the highest quality as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake when the sides squared off on Sunday.
In a one-sided affair at the America First Field, Corey Baird, Daniel Steres and Adalberto Carrasquilla all found the back of the net to hand the hosts a third consecutive defeat.
This was a second straight win over Real Salt Lake in the space of three days after beating the Claret and Cobalt 3-1 in the US Open Cup semi-finals on August 24 to set up a mouth-watering final showdown against high-flying Inter Miami.
Olsen's men have now won each of their last three matches across all competitions, scoring a staggering 11 goals and keeping two clean sheets since a 2-1 loss to Charlotte FC in the Leagues Cup round-of-16 on August 8.
Houston Dynamo have now won 10 of their 25 MLS matches while losing 10 and claiming five draws to collect 35 points and sit fifth in the Western Conference standings, level on points with sixth-placed San Jose Earthquakes.
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Columbus Crew, on the other hand, continued their impressive run of results at home as they picked up a comfortable 2-0 victory over a struggling Toronto FC side last weekend.
Diego Rossi and substitute Jacen Russell-Rowe scored in either half at the Lower.com Field to condemn Toronto to a 10th defeat on the bounce across all competitions.
Prior to that, Columbus Crew suffered a round-of-32 exit from the Leagues Cup on August 5 courtesy of a penalty-shootout loss against Minnesota United, two weeks before thrashing FC Cincinnati 3-0 on home turf.
With Sunday's result, Wilfried Nancy's men have now gone undefeated in each of their last nine home games in MLS, claiming seven wins and two draws since a 2-1 loss to Inter Miami on April 30.
However, the Crew have struggled for results on the road, where they have managed just one win in their last seven matches across all competitions while losing four and claiming two draws in that time.
Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer form:
- L
- D
- L
- D
- W
- W
Houston Dynamo form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
Columbus Crew Major League Soccer form:
- W
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
Columbus Crew form (all competitions):
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
Team News
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Houston Dynamo will take to the pitch without experienced defender Teenage Hadebe, who has been out of action since April through an ankle injury.
He is joined on the hosts' injury table by the duo of Ifunayachi Achara and Tate Shield, who are currently recuperating from ACL and knee injuries respectively.
Hector Herrera set up Steres's 29th-minute strike in Sunday's victory over Real Salt Lake to take his goal involvements to 11 in the league this season an the 33-year-old will be one to look out for.
Meanwhile, Columbus Crew will be without the services of 23-year-old forward William Sands, who came off with a knee problem against Charlotte FC back in April.
Cucho Hernandez failed to get on the scoresheet against Toronto last weekend but the 24-year-old striker, who has six goals and six assists in the league this season, should lead the Crews attack once again.
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Tarbell; Dorsey, Sviatchenko, Dos Santos, Escobar; Herrera, Carrasquilla; Artur, Bassi, Quinones; Baird
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Schulte; Moreira, Camacho, Amundsen; Gressel, Nagbe, Morris, Yeboah; Rossi; Ramirez, Hernandez
We say: Houston Dynamo 2-2 Columbus Crew
Looking at past results between Houston Dynamo and Columbus Crew, we anticipate another end-to-end affair at the Shell Energy Stadium. Both sides head into this one off the back of impressive results in the league and we predict that they will cancel out each other's efforts in this one.
How to watch
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For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:data
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