With the inclusion of New York City FC, the rivalry between the New York Red Bulls and the Philadelphia Union has been almost a little forgotten. For the first time this year, these two Eastern Conference foes will duke it out against each other in the City of Brotherly Love on Sunday night.
You won't want to miss all of the great soccer odds at BookMaker.eu for this and all of the matches this MLS weekend.
ODDS ANALYSIS
An interesting debate for sure about the betting odds for this match. Theoretically, these two teams aren't separated by a heck of a lot in the standings. Philly is five points clear heading into this week of the Red Bulls, but the home and away splits here are pretty darn impressive if you're backing the Union.
Philadelphia is 7-2-1 at home this season, while New York is just a mirror image 1-2-7 on the road. Of course, we've seen stranger happen, especially when two really good teams get on the pitch together, but just based on this, the oddsmakers don't have a lot of a choice in making Philadelphia the relatively overwhelming favorite in this match.
KEY INJURIES
The Red Bulls have a new injury to deal with in the form of Gideon Baah who fractured his tibia last week and is finished for the rest of the season. He joins Kemar Lawrence on the sidelines for New York, injuries which really thin out the team's options at the back.
The Union have been stuck playing without Maurice Edu for the whole season, but the time is coming that he should be back in the fold sooner rather than later. Keep an eye on Fabian Herbers as well. He's been out with a hamstring injury. He's not a tremendously vital piece to the puzzle, but his presence could help out a team which has been up and down offensively at times this season.
LIVE BETTING
The Union have had trouble scoring goals on the road, but at home, they've been unstoppable. They've scored 15 goals in their last five matches played here at Talen Energy Stadium, and if they're able to score multiple times in this match, there's a really good chance they're going to get another three points.
The Red Bulls meanwhile, have had some problems putting the ball in the back of the net no matter where their matches have been played. They were shutout by the Timbers last weekend, and that came on the heels of getting blanked by New York City FC on the road.
QUICK PICK
Though these teams haven't played in the MLS this year, they did meet in the U.S. Open Cup a couple weeks ago in this venue, a match won by the Union 2-1. That isn't necessarily a great indication of what's happening in this fixture, but the recent history between these teams in league play also suggests a lot of goals.
The Red Bulls won the last two matches of the year last year between these teams by 4-1 and 3-1 counts. In fact, four of the last five matches between the two have featured at least four goals.
This one though, we think is going to be a different story. New York has played a little more tactically of late to account for its inability to put the ball in the back of the net. We think that's going to end up hurting it in this match, but the under might end up being the better play in what could be a gritty affair.
MLS Odds: Philadelphia Union 1, New York Red Bulls 0
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