CF Montreal vs Cincinnati FC Prediction, Preview, And Odds - 7/17/21

CF Montreal defeated New York City FC 2 -1 in its most recent MLS fixtureon July 7. Mason Toye scored from the spot in the 43rd minute and RomellQuioto added the winner in the 73rd minute for Montreal. Montreal is nowunbeaten in each of its last five matches and has not been defeated sincefalling to Cincinnati 2-1 at home on May 22. Over its unbeaten stretch offive matches, Montreal has posted three clean sheets. Montreal will bewithout Clement Diop and Ballou Table due to injuries, while Samuel Piette,Kamal Miller, and Romell Quito will miss out due to international duty.

FC Cincinnati fought to a 2-2 at home against Columbus Crew last Friday.Edgar Castillo opened up the scoring with a goal in the first minute forCincinnati and Luciano Acosta gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead with a goal in the24th minute, but the backline gave up a late first-half goal and an equalizerlate in the second half to share the spoils at home. FC Cincinnati will bewithout the services of Calvin Harris, Zico Bailey, and Maikel van der Werffdue to injuries, while Ronald Matarrita and Allan Cruz miss out because ofInternational Duty.

Montreal Backline Is Tough to Break Down

Montreal has gone unbeaten in each of its last five matches in the MLSthanks to excellent play from its back line and goalkeeper. The club isfourth in the Eastern Conference at 5-4-3 with 19 points and a +3 goaldifference. Montreal has allowed one goal or less in each of its last 5matches and it has held opponents scoreless in three of the last five.Montreal's defense is not allowing opponents to have any open looks at the goal while inside the box and goalkeeper James Pantemis, filling in for theinjured Clement Diop, has allowed just two goals in four appearances in theMLS this season.

Montreal has struggled at times putting the ball in the net, scoring anaverage of only 1.00 goals per match during its current five-matchunbeaten streak. Mason Toye is the leading goal scorer for Montreal with 4and three teammates have two goals each. Djordie Mihailovic is leadingMontreal in assists with four and Romell Quioto has three.

Cincinnati unbeaten in its last 4

Cincinnati is well down the standings (11th) in the Eastern Conference at3-3-5 with 12 points and a -8 goal difference, but has gone unbeaten ineach of the last four matches. Cincinnati earned a draw at home withColumbus Crew last Friday for its second consecutive draw. Cincinnatidefeated Montreal 2-1 on the road in the first meeting between the two onMay 22nd with goals from Jurgen Locadia in the 70th minute and thewinner by Gustavo Vallecilla in the 86th minute.

Over the last five matches in the MLS Cincinnati has two wins, two draws, and one loss while posting clean sheets in two of the last four. GoalkeeperKenneth Vermeer has allowed 10 goals in eight starts this season forCincinnati, and Cincinnati as a club has allowed 19 goals in 11 matcheswhile scoring just 12 goals. The leading goal scores for Cincinnati areAlvaro Barreal and Luciano Acosta with three goals each. Ronald Matarritais the leader in assists with 3 but will miss Saturday’s match with Montreal.

Full game pick

CF Montreal -103

Pick Analysis:

Since losing to Cincinnati 2-1 on May 22, Montreal is unbeaten across fivematches with three wins and two draws while allowing on two goals. Thebackline and keeper for Montreal have clean sheets in three of the last fivematches resulting in two wins and one draw. FC Cincinnati has two drawsin its last two outings but will find it hard to break down the backline of Montreal, as Montreal is allowing an average of only 0.40 goals per matchduring its current five-match unbeaten run. Backup keeper JamesPantemis, playing for the injured Clement Diop, has allowed just two goalsin his four matches resulting in three wins and one draw.

Full game total prediction: Your Over/Under prediction

Under

Full game total prediction analysis:

Montreal is allowing an average of 0.40 goals per game over its last fivematches played and the total has finished under the 2.5 threshold in four ofMontreal’s last five matches. Cincinnati's most recent outing finished overthe 2.5 goals standard with four, but prior to that each of the previous fivematches finished under 2.5 goals. Cincinnati has allowed an average of just 0.75 goals per match during its current four-match unbeaten run.