Real Salt Lake vs Colorado Rapids Prediction: Real Salt Lake have no respect for The Rapids.

For Real Salt Lake, beating Los Angeles FC was priceless. Not only does it reduce the doubts surrounding the club but it provides a stable foundation for the team to build on for the remainder of the season. The win came after a draw and a defeat in the opening 2 games. So, Real Salt Lake can't afford to slump to another poor result in this coming game.

Colorado Rapids are under immense pressure to respond after such a poor start to the season. They lost the opening game against Portland Timbers in the most humiliating manner and then they managed a draw. Surely nothing will revive the spirit within the club like a good win against Real Salt Lake here.

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake beating Los Angeles FC 3-0 in the last game, as well as finishing the game with only 10 men makes up for the disappointments they faced in the first and second game.

Real Salt Lake probably started the game against Los Angeles FC without any hope of winning, but then Andres Gomez gave them the lead just 18 minutes into the game. Then the double came in the 41st and then Cristian Arango scored the third just before half time. And in the second half, Real Salt Lake put up a formidable resistance to keep their precious lead and even had a man sent off. Such performances are legendary and can be the start of something big in the club.

Pablo Mastroeni was the mastermind behind the team's success as he deployed the 4-2-3-1 formation and had the team playing in a fantastic way. To support his claims, Real Salt Lake had 59% possession, 6 shots on target and they created 4 big chances. They also had 1 counter attack and Zac Macmath made 7 saves in the game.

Beyond doubt, Pablo Mastroeni will be pushing the team for a similar performance in the coming game and he is expected to retain the shape and squad for the game. If the team manages to reproduce a similar performance, then we might be witnessing a new force in the major league this season.

Colorado Rapids

The Rapids are back in for the third game of the season after 2 attempts without a win. They are looking anxious and rightfully so, they are eager to put the doubts to bed with a good win in this game.

In their opening game, they lost 4-1 to Portland Timbers and the memory of the defeat will surely live in the hearts of the players for a while. After the defeat, they played a 1-1 draw with Nashville SC at home. It wasn't a very convincing response from The Rapids team after such an embarrassing defeat on the opening day. Thanks to Shaq Moore who gave them the lead through an own goal in the 47th minute, they probably would have suffered a second defeat.

It's no doubt that Chris Armas will feel anxious as he leads the team into the third game. He's fully aware that a change is needed to turn the fortunes around and he hopes that he can make the right change in the coming game.

He deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation against Nashville SC and the team managed to match the Nashville SC team in several aspects of the game. The Rapids had 51% possession, 2 shots on target and they also created 1 big chance. The result seemed fair as both teams didn't do anything extraordinary to earn a win. 

Head to Head

According to the h2h, in the last 2o meetings between Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake have won 14 matches while Colorado Rapids won 3 matches and the remaining 3 matches ended in a draw.

Analysis and Predictions

The stats from previous encounters tend to favor Real Salt Lake. It's always important for teams to see their opposition below them and that's exactly how Real Salt Lake sees The Rapids. So, the Salt Lake have the advantage, the confidence and the superiority complex on their side.

According to the h2h, Real Salt Lake have won the last 4 meetings and are unbeaten in the last 7. They have also not conceded in the last 3 meetings while Colorado Rapids are without a clean sheet in the last 10 meetings. Real Salt Lake scored first in the last 10 meetings and won the first half in 6 of the last 7 meetings. There's also been less than 10.5 corners in 7 of the last 9 meetings. 

• Total Under 10 Corners at 1.925 Odds
• Real Salt Lake to Win at 1.72 Odds
• Real Salt Lake to Win at 1.70 Odds