Real Salt Lake vs Seattle Sounders 03/09/20

03 September 2020

Out-of-form Real Salt Lake welcome high-flying Seattle Sounders to the Rio Tinto Stadium for an exciting MLS contest. Notably, none of their previous 19 top-flight H2Hs has ended in a draw, with the home side running out winners in four of their last six clashes.

The hosts lost just one from five MLS clashes since the resumption of football in July (W2, D2), scoring over 1.5 goals on three of those occasions. However, for Salt Lake, goals have been in short supply at home this season. They’ve netted a miserly average of 0.75 goals in the opening four MLS home games, with two of the three goals they scored across those encounters coming beyond the 75-minute mark. Indeed, the Rio Tinto Stadium has lacked entertainment this season, given all four of Salt Lake’s MLS fixtures here have featured under 1.5 first-half goals and less than 2.5 at FT.

Meanwhile, the visitors have enjoyed an upturn in form ahead of this trip, going from two MLS games without a win (D1, L1) to three consecutive victories. Impressively, each of those triumphs has seen Seattle score the opening goal and move on to net two more before the final whistle. Curiously, both of their MLS trips this season have featured precisely three goals, with all six of them arriving in the second half of play. However, a trip to Salt Lake may stir some painful memories, considering the ‘Sounders’ have lost all eight of their previous top-flight away H2Hs, drawing a blank in five, including the last three.