WILL Dyer (@w2Dyer) is back with more MLS tips for Wednesday night. Take a look.
Philadelphia Union v Seattle Sounders | Thursday 00:00
I can see this being a bit of a bland game. Philly have questions over the fitness of three of their best striking options; Fernando Aristeguieta, Conor Casey and Sebastian Le Toux. All of them missed the weekend hammering in LA.
Sounders have their own issues as well; Obafemi Martins is out injured for three to six weeks and Clint Dempsey has two games remaining of his three-game ban. Veteran Chad Barrett has a hamstring injury as does Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda is also sidelined. All in all we are unlikely to see these sides at full strength.
A 2-0 home defeat to San Jose on Saturday night, the second time Sounders have lost to the Earthquakes at home this season, was a disappointing result and Seattle seem to have got a case of vertigo after a few weeks at the top of the table.
Sounders don’t concede many. They’ve only let in 13 goals in 16 games this season, a joint league low. Both teams have scored in only three of Philly’s eight games at PPL Park this season and in only three of Seattle’s seven away games so odds against on Both Teams To Score ‘No’ looks good value to me.
Columbus Crew v New England Revolution | Thursday 00:30
I couldn’t believe the match odds when I saw them for this fixture. Crew are seriously out of form, no wins in their last six MLS games. They’ve not kept a clean sheet at MAPFRE in any of their last five home league games and I’m more than happy to take them on at the price.
Revs were leading in the Capital on Sunday night but a typical DC second half comeback put a stop to that. DC have now won five games from losing positions this season so it was no surprise to see them rally later in the game and I don’t hold it against Revs.
Jermaine Jones' injury doesn’t look to have had too much of an impact and their other two recent away defeats were both on long trips to Western Conference sides Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City so I will forgive them that – both of those sides have been in terrific form as well.
It’s now four games since Kei Kamara got on the scoresheet for Columbus and without him firing they are struggling. Their home defensive record is shoddy and I fully expect New England to take advantage of that with the wide range of attacking midfielders and wingers that they have at their disposal. They are no 7/2 shot.
Chicago Fire v DC United | Thursday 01:30
This next tip is a mammoth price and deserves to be backed as a single simply because of how much DC have done this already this season. They’ve been behind in 10 of their last 12 MLS games and only lost three of them, drawing two and, incredibly, winning five.
In fact all of DC’s last five MLS wins came from losing positions. That fighting spirit and never knowing when to give up is a trait of champions and I’ve already mentioned that I fancy them for the MLS Cup as a result.
They have started slowly in most games this season and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them concede first at the Toyota Stadium on Wednesday night even though this is top versus bottom.
DC’s coach Ben Olsen seems to get the tactics just right after watching the first part of the game and with Luis Silva and Fabian Espindola back from injury it’s given DC options of the bench that have changed the game on more than one occasion.
Fire need to kick on with this being at home but David Accam is out with a hamstring injury and playmaker Shaun Maloney is also sidelined. They have enough in their arsenal to get off to a good start here but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they got pegged back later in the game and even lost from a winning position. 20/1 looks absolutely huge.
LA Galaxy v Portland Timbers | Thursday 04:00
I cannot believe that my Robbie Keane bet failed us at the weekend. LA won comfortably, as predicted, by a 5-1 score-line but Keane didn’t get on the scoresheet which is quite astonishing considering he was coming off the back of a hat-trick and is always amongst the goals for the Galaxy. Anyway, my rough patch continues…
I’m also gutted that I haven’t cashed-in on the Timbers recent four wins on the trot. I was adamant they were a decent side in my season preview and they are proving that by sitting in a lofty third place at present. A trip to the StubHub though is a difficult encounter and one that they have never enjoyed since their inception in 2011.
LA hold a W4-D2-L0 record over Portland at home and despite the average season that LA are enduring they do remain incredibly solid in Los Angeles and top the Western Conference home table with six wins in nine games, 14 goals scored and just five goals conceded. I expected LA to be heavy odds-on to win this, they usually are regardless of the form of their visitors but evens (Coral) is available and that has lured me in.
Only one of Portland’s four recent wins was away from Oregon and that run will come to an end soon enough.
Best Bets
Philadelphia Union v Seattle Sounders – Both Teams To Score ‘No’ (11/10 Paddy Power)
Columbus Crew v New England Revolution – New England Revolution to win (7/2 BetVictor)
Chicago Fire v DC United – DC United to win from behind (20/1 BetVictor)
LA Galaxy v Portland Timbers – LA Galaxy to win (1/1 Coral)
