Nashville SC vs DC United Prediction: Back both teams to find the net

The MLS match between Nashville SC and DC United is scheduled for October 3, 2024. Both teams are positioned in the bottom half of the league standings, with Nashville SC coming 13th in the league table and DC United one step ahead in 12th position. With only a few regular season matches remaining, either side will be keen to pick up points in this one to nail a playoff place or reach the end of the term with some panache. The visitors come into this with a mixed run of form while United have been inconsistent, especially at the back.

Nashville SC has had a lackluster season to date, putting together an 8-9-14 mark. Recently, the team shows inconsistency with two wins, one draw, and two losses in their last five matches. They only lost 1-0 to New England in a tough match that still showed them struggling to find an attack despite decent possession and chance creation.

Typically, Nashville sets up in a 4-3-3 formation with a view to gaining width and attempting to transition quickly from defense to attack. However, on many occasions, they have struggled to register any sort of possession, hovering around the 40–45% range. No different was their last outing against New England, as Nashville could only manage 44% possession and was highly reliant on long balls 53% and crosses 27%. While Nashville has been decent at the back, with 65% of their tackles won in the last outing, one of the major weaknesses for the team has been not converting chances into goals. Given DC's fragility in their backline, Nashville may set up tactically with aggressive pressing and direct play to expose their backline through pacey transitions.

Recent displays from Nashville have been of the low-scoring variety, with 6 of the last 8 games seeing less than 2.5 goals. This would suggest that they are more concerned with solidity at the back rather than pushing forward into an attack. Their loss to New England by 1-0 showed that with two big chances, they had only four shots on target. Considering Nashville, although the defensive stats are pretty decent, with the number of duels won standing at 54% and defensive tackles succeeding 65% of the time in the last game alone, a lack of attacking sharpness has indeed been one of the critical issues for them.

The record similarly is not very impressive for DC United, too, with 8 wins, 10 draws, and 13 losses, but they take the slightly better leaf on goal difference. In the last five games, DC have also managed two wins but recently hit a stumbling block with three winless matches in a row. On defense, DC United has been pretty vulnerable, yielding seven goals in their last three games-a probable sign of fragility that Nashville might exploit.

DC United usually employs a more defensive-minded 5-4-1 formation that is designed to clog up the midfield and protect the back; this hasn't stopped them from leaking goals, though. Though they were able to create four big chances in their last match against Columbus, DC can often struggle to control matches, generally retreating and allowing the opposition a lion's share of possession. They did concede two goals in that same match, underlining their vulnerable defense. Still, the 5-4-1 does permit them to be compact, and United is a very dangerous counter-attacking side that can create clear goal-scoring chances. Poor defensive concentration remains their main Achilles' heel, and Nashville will look to exploit this.

On the other side, high-scoring games have been a characteristic of DC United's matches, with over 2.5 goals in 9 of the last 10 matches. They are on a three-match winless streak, having conceded seven goals in those three games. While they are capable of creating goal-scoring chances, DC has been very leaky at the back. In their last game away to Columbus, despite creating four big chances, they struggled to take home the win. That fact, plus the inconsistency of DC in defense-only 48% of duels won-points to a weakness that Nashville will try to make full use of, especially on the counter.

Historically, Nashville has been on top with four wins from the series against DC's solitary win and three draws. DC United had won the most recent clash 2-1 in July 2024, with Nashville often first to strike, as it had in four of the last five encounters. Also, both these fixtures have seen pretty few cards and corners, with less than 10.5 corners in 6 of the last 7 games between them.

With Nashville's good form at home in this fixture, coupled with the defensive problems of DC United, Nashville should win or at least draw the game. While Nashville has been inconsistent as of late, they are usually resilient at home, and DC's leaky defense may be found out.

While Nashville has been part of low-scoring affairs, and high-scoring games involving DC recently, given the defensive approach Nashville is expected to set up, a total of 2-3 goals is the most probable scenario. Both sides have shown weakness in attack and defense, so a tight game is highly expected.

Both teams have been vulnerable in defense this season, and given DC's penchant for involvement in high-scoring games, GG has occurred in six of the last seven games, so both teams are likely to find the back of the net.

• 3 Way Total Over 2 Goals @ 1.602 Odds
• 2-3 Goal Range @ 2.18 Odds
• Nashville SC DNB @ 1.66 Odds