Major League Soccer preview: Can Real Salt Lake edge out victory against Seattle Sounders?

It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders.

It's quite the trip for Seattle Sounders when visiting Real Salt Lake as the cities are 1200 kilometers apart.

Real Salt Lake form and stats

Real Salt Lake are steadily winning games and points here at Rio Tinto Stadium. 8 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats is the summary from 11 games.

Real Salt Lake are returning here after visiting Sporting KC in a Major League Soccer game and winning with a 2-1 scoreline. Ahead of that match, Real Salt Lake won a home game hosting New York City (3-1).

The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Real Salt Lake have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 14 games) they have won 10 times, drawn 3 and lost 1.

There's a new fixture coming up fairly quickly for Real Salt Lake, as the Major League Soccer home game vs Los Angeles FC is only three days away.

The Real Salt Lake manager M. Petke has got the team scoring with 22 from 11 home games. Real Salt Lake are not conceding a lot of goals here at Rio Tinto Stadium, averaging less than one per game. The total is 10 from 11 matches.

Seattle Sounders form and stats

The story so far for the visiting team on their travels is 3 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats. Seattle Sounders has recorded two wins in a row in their away matches and hold legitimate hopes of a third one.

There were no winners in Seattle Sounders's previous match, a Major League Soccer home game that ended 3-3 vs New England. A loss against Sporting KC was the result prior to that, in a home game.

Seattle Sounders are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is 1 win, 1 draw and 8 defeats. From a total of ten matches.

There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Seattle Sounders manager B. Schmetzer as the team has another away game coming up in only three days, this time against LA Galaxy.

Seattle Sounders find the net in their away games, although not all the time. 13 goals from 11 away fixtures. In the opposite end, Seattle Sounders have conceded 18 goals in their away games.

Head 2 Head

This is the result when the teams met earlier this season; Seattle Sounders - Real Salt Lake 1-0. Real Salt Lake-Seattle Sounders H2H statistics last ten meetings regardless of arena: Real Salt Lake 4 wins, Seattle Sounders 5 wins, 1 draw. 4 of these ten matches had three or more goals (over 2,5).

Top Goalscorers

S. Johnson 8 goals

Real Salt Lake missing players

Seattle Sounders missing players