MLS: DC United vs. New York Red Bulls Betting Preview, Odds, Prediction

DC United hosts the New York Red Bulls in a match that could impact the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference of the MLS League. These two sides are battling for the seventh and the last spot that leads to the postseason, which is currently being held by New York City. Red Bulls are two points away from the city rivals, while DC sits three steps behind, with one more game played. That puts additional pressure on the hosts to win on Sunday night, and we’ll see how they respond to such circumstances.

Preview

DC United (+110) slowed down a little bit in the past two games, as they took just one point from them against Fire in Chicago this midweek, 2-2. The match before that was also on the road, against Philadelphia Union, with DC losing that one, 2-1.

Previously, the franchise from the US capital had four straight victories, in which they allowed just one goal. Back then, Hernan Losada’s team played much tougher football, with their games often finishing with under 2.5 goals and with just one team netting.

When looking only at the games at home, just two ended with both teams scoring and with over 2.5 scores, which somewhere backs up our claim that this crew likes to play tactical and inefficient games.

New York Red Bulls (+240) are having mixed success in recent times, with one win in four matches, and the other three endings with respective draws. That sole triumph was against Orlando City on the road, 1-2, and was the only game with three or more scores during that run.

Overall, the Bulls had four road trips in the past five games, and that for sure had some influence on their performances. This is going to be the fifth away contest for the team from the Big Apple since late June.

The majority of the clashes they participate in aren’t that exciting, but they do see a certain amount of goals. Moderate efficiency is the most frequent when NYRB plays, with 2 or 3 hits appearing in five of their seven matches.

Latest News

Paul Arriola and Donovan Pines attend the Gold Cup, while Edison Flores and Brendan Hines-Ike struggle with injuries.

For the guests, Andres Reyes and Youba Diarra are out with muscle injuries; Daniel Royer has trouble with his thing, while Aaron Long will be out for quite some time due to an Achilles rupture.

Head to Head Games

The most recent meeting was in this April, and it was club-friendly that saw the Bulls hosting United with the game finishing without winners, 1-1. Two matches in 2020 saw the guests posting a win each, NYRB, 0-2, and DC, 0-1.

Prediction

We’re going with DC’s win here because United utilizes the home-court advantage this year very well. They are not the same team at Audi Field and somewhere else. On the other side, the Red Bulls are playing away from home for a long time, which will have to take a toll at some point. In our opinion, this is the perfect situation for them to lose. The odds on our pick are +110.

Pick: DC Wins +110

More MLS previews and predictions are available on this link.