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New York City and Chicago Fire will square off at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday in the MLS, as both sides look to build on their last wins.
The Pigeons come into the game on the back of a thumping 6-0 defeat of DC United, with Valentin Castellanos bagging a brace following a fearsome attacking display from his team.
It kept them in fifth place on the league table with 44 points, one more than city rivals NY Red Bulls, who have a game in hand.
Chicago, meanwhile, are languishing near the foot of the table, just above bottom-dwellers Toronto and Cincinnati, but have overseen good results lately.
They held leaders New England to a 2-2 draw before picking up back-to-back wins over Cincinnati and Real Salt Lake.
New York City vs Chicago Fire Head-To-Head
New York City have a dominant record against Chicago lately, winning seven of their last 15 clashes and losing only thrice.
However, they haven't beaten their Eastern Conference rivals in their last two games, failing to score in both and suffering a 2-0 defeat in September.
New York City Form Guide (all competitions): L-D-L-D-W
Chicago Fire Form Guide (all competitions): W-L-D-W-W
New York City vs Chicago Fire Team News
New York City
The Pigeons are unlikely to have Anton Tinnerholm back in this calendar year due to his Achilles injury, while Nicolas Acevedo is still recovering from a lower-body problem.
Valentin Castellanos scored a brace in the 6-0 rout of DC United and now has 15 goals in 2021. He'll be looking to extend that goalscoring run further before the new year.
Injured: Anton Tinnerholm and Nicolas Acevedo
Suspended: None
Unavailable: None
Chicago Fire
Kenneth Kronholm remains out with a thigh problem while Carlos Teran has a knock to his right knee.
Francisco Calvo has been kept out of the squad for health and safety reasons.
Injured: Kenneth Kronholm, Carlos Teran
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Francisco Calvo
New York City vs Chicago Fire Predicted XI
New York City (4-2-3-1): Sean Johnson; James Sands, Maxime Chanot, Tayvon Gray, Malte Amundsen; Alfredo Morales, Gedion Zelalem; Thiago Andrade, Maximiliano Moralez, Jesus Medina; Valentin Castellanos.
Chicago Fire (4-3-3): Gabriel Slonina; John Espinoza, Mauricio Pineda, Jonathan Bornstein, Miguel Navarro; Federico Navarro, Brian Gutierrez, Alvaro Medran; Wyatt Omsberg, Robert Beric, Ignacio Aliseda.
New York City vs Chicago Fire Prediction
Chicago Fire have improved lately and they're building confidence for a strong finish to a difficult year.
New York City are in high spirits too following their resounding victory over DC, although a repeat is unlikely.
With a talented attacking arsenal in both camps, we're predicting a high-scoring draw.
Prediction: New York City 2-2 Chicaco Fire
