Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids Prediction, Preview and Odds - 10/16/21

Real Salt Lake vs Colorado Rapids

Real Salt Lake was defeated on the road by Austin FC 2-1 on Saturday, October 2 in its last fixture prior to a two-week break for international play. Real Salt Lake fell behind 2-0 after 55 minutes but Damir Kreilach scored for RSL in the 64th minute to narrow the deficit to one goal but Real Salt Lake could not get any closer. Marcelo Silva and Zack Farnsworth are both out for Real Salt Lake.

Colorado picked up a big three points in its most recent outing after defeating Minnesota United 3-1 on the road on October 10. Minnesota United opened the scoring with a goal in the eighth minute, but Cole Bassett scored an equalizer in the 73rd minute and substitute Michael Barrios scored the winner in the 84th minute, while Luke Esteves scored an insurance goal in stoppage time in the 93rd minute. Colorado's Danny Wilson was issued a red card and will not play on Saturday. Colorado does not have any players on its injured list.

RSL Needs Points to Remain in Top Seven

Real Salt Lake is currently fifth in the MLS Western Conference with a record of 11-6-11, 39 points and a +1 goal difference. Real Salt Lake is ahead of 6th place LA Galaxy on goal difference and ahead of 7th place Minnesota by one point. More importantly, RSL leads 8th place Vancouver by 2 points, as only the top seven clubs reach the postseason. Real Salt Lake has come on strong of late winning four of the last five matches.

The leading goal scorer for Real Salt Lake is Damir Kreilach with 13 points, while Rubio Rubin, Albert Rusnak and Anderson Julio each have 7. Aaron

Herrera is the leader in assists with 8, while Rusnak is second with 7. David Ochoa has appeared in 19 of Real Salt Lake's 28 matches this season and has given up 29 goals. Ochoa did not play in RSL’s recent loss but is expected to be back in goal on Saturday.

Colorado Returns to Form

The Colorado Rapids are third in the MLS Western Conference standings with a record of 14-9-5, 51 points and a +13 goal difference. Colorado surged up the standing over the last 2 months after being in seventh place earlier this season. Colorado is one point behind second-place Sporting Kansas City and 6 points behind first-place Seattle. The Rapids are unbeaten in 12 of their last 13 matches with only a loss to Seattle on October 3rd. The last time Colorado was defeated on the road was in Seattle last week, but prior to that, the Rapids were unbeaten in six straight matches away from home.

The leading goal scorer for Colorado is Michael Barrios with 8 and Jonathan Lewis has scored five. Jack Price is the leader in assists with 11 and Barrios has 4. William Yarbrough has appeared in 27 of Colorado's 28 matches and has allowed just 24 goals. Clint Irwin has appeared in just one match and gave up three goals when the Rapids were defeated by Seattle 3-0.

Pick: Real Salt Lake +150

Colorado has gone unbeaten in 12 of its last 13 matches and in six of its last seven matches on the road. However, Real Salt Lake has been nearly unbeatable at home winning each of the last 6 on its homepage including a 3-0 victory over Colorado on July 24. Real Salt Lake has outscored its opponents at home over the last six matches 14-5 and RSL has posted three clean sheets over its last six matches at home. Colorado plays well on the road but the difference will be RSL’s success at home.

Total: Over

The total finished over the 2.5 goals per match threshold when these two met on July 24th when Real Salt Lake won 3-0. The total has gone over in each of Real Salt Lake's last three matches and in 9 of the last 10. In addition, the total has finished over in each of Colorado's last three matches and in four of the Rapids last six. Real Salt Lake is scoring an average of 1.60 goals per match, while Colorado is scoring an average of 1.46 goals per match.

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Kevin Vallego

Kevin grew up in a sports-only household. Every afternoon was set to watching any sport that was on T.V. After years of watching sports he got introduced to the betting world, and soon stats, trends, and odds were Kevin's best friends. Now, almost 2 decades later, His life revolves around sports, writing about them, and betting on them. We are glad to have Kevin on our Winners & Whiners & StatSalt teams and you should be happy that we have him as well.