NY Red Bulls vs. Columbus Crew Prediction, Preview, and Odds - 8/18/21
New York City Red Bulls vs Columbus Crew
The New York City Red Bulls host a struggling Columbus Crew on Wednesday. New York was defeated by CF Montreal on Saturday 2-1 in their most recent MLS fixture. The Red Bulls allowed a second-half stoppage time winner in the 98th minute to suffer the loss. Patryk Klimala scored New York's only goal from the penalty spot. The Red Bulls will play without Aaron Long, Youba Diarra and Cameron Harper, while Cristian Casseres and Andres Reyes are both questionable.
Columbus suffered its fourth consecutive loss after falling to the Chicago Fire 1-0 on Sunday. Columbus played better defensively allowing just one goal after conceding 11 in its previous three matches, but the Crew attack was nearly non-existent with just 12 shots and only one on target. Injuries have taken a toll on Columbus and the Crew will play without Aidan Morris, Artur, Milton Valenzuela, Perry Kitchen, Luis Diaz, Josh Williams and Marlon Hairston. Vito Wormgoor is questionable.
Red Bulls Attack Needs Help
The New York Red Bulls are 11th in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 5-4-9, 19 points and a -2 goal difference. New York has found it hard to put the ball into the net of late as the Red Bulls have been held to one or fewer goals in each of their last 3 matches, which has resulted in one draw and two losses. In 18 MLS matches this season, New York has scored only 22 goals for an average of 1.22 goals per match.
New York is led in goal-scoring by Patryk Klimala, Caden Clark and Cristian Casseres Jr with four goals each, while Fabio has scored three. Fabio is the club leader in assists with 5 and Klimala has four. Red Bulls keeper Carlos has appeared in each of New York’s 18 MLS matches and has allowed 24 goals for an average of 1.26 per match.
Columbus Crew Sinking quickly in the East
The Columbus Crew have dropped to eighth in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 6-6-7, 24 points and a goal difference -3. Columbus has lost four straight and over that stretch has allowed 12 goals and scored five. Although the Crew have a -7 goal difference in the last four fixtures, overall the Crew has only -3 in goal difference for the season which is evidence of how poorly the Crew has played of late as Columbus had a +4 goal difference prior to its four consecutive defeats.
Lucas Zelarayan is leading Columbus in goals scored with 6 and Gyasi Zardes has scored 4. Pedro Sanchez has three assists to lead Columbus and Zelarayan has two. Columbus goalkeeper Eloy Room has appeared in 17 matches and allowed 22 goals. Room has given up 12 goals in the last four outings, but the Columbus backline has played extremely poorly in front of the Curacao international star.
Pick: New York Red Bulls -120
New York has had its problems putting the ball in the net, but will be facing a Columbus Crew 11 that has had major problems keeping the ball out of its own net. Columbus has conceded 12 goals over the last four matches for an average of 3.00 goals per match, which resulted in four consecutive losses for the Crew. New York has four wins, two draws and just two losses in its eight matches at home this season. Columbus on the road has just one win in nine matches this season.
Total: Over
Columbus has a major problem in its back line and in goal as the Crew is allowing an average of 3.00 goals per match over the last four matches played and over the last 9 matches played by Columbus 6 have ended above the 2.5 goals threshold. In each of New York’s last two matches and in three of the last four, the total finished over that same threshold.
