San Diego vs Seattle Sounders Predictions, Team News and Betting Tips

San Diego host Seattle Sounders at Snapdragon Stadium in Major League Soccer on Sunday 25 October, with kick-off at 02:30 UK time. It pairs a home side that scores freely and leaks goals with a visitor that has one of the tighter defences in the league, and the home side arrive winless in their last eight games.

San Diego sit 12th in the Western Conference of the MLS table on 34 points from 30 games. Seattle Sounders are 7th on 42. The gap is eight points, and Seattle have the better recent form: three wins, a draw and a defeat in their last five, against four draws and a defeat for San Diego.

How the teams arrive

San Diego have drawn four of their last five, and the other was a heavy defeat. They drew 2-2 at LA Galaxy on 18 October and 3-3 at home to Houston three days earlier. Before that came a 4-1 loss at New York RB, then 3-3 at Austin and 2-2 at Inter Miami. They have scored 53 and conceded 56, and their goals average of 1.77 a game is the 9th most in MLS, while the 1.87 they concede is the 8th most. Over 2.5 goals has landed in 70% of their games, the 6th highest rate in MLS.

Seattle Sounders have been steadier at the back and quieter in front of goal. They scored 39 and conceded 37, with 1.23 goals against a game the 4th fewest in MLS, and they've kept a clean sheet in 27% of matches, the 6th highest. Their latest outing was a 1-1 draw with CF Montréal, preceded by a 1-0 defeat at Dallas. Before that they won 3-0 at New England, 2-1 against Sporting KC and 3-1 against Minnesota.

Seattle score 1.3 goals a game, the 7th fewest in MLS, but they create chances: shots on target average 5.1 a game, the 9th most, and their 5.47 corners are the 6th most. They also pick up the fewest cards per game in MLS, 1.67, and the 4th fewest fouls.

Predicted lineups

San Diego possible starting lineup:
Sisniega; Verhoeven, Duah, McVey, Sargeant; Godoy, Alvarado, Pirani; Dreyer, Bakambu, Achouri

Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Thomas; Álex Roldán, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Sailor, Nouhou; Dotson, Cristian Roldán, Clark; Rusnák, Morris, Joveljić

Players to watch

Dejan Joveljić has had a shot on target in each of his last 10 games for Seattle Sounders, and at least two shots in each of the last eight, averaging 3.8 a game. He is 1.33 at Ladbrokes to make it 11 straight.

Anders Dreyer has had a shot on target in five straight games for San Diego and at least two shots in each of those five. He is 1.30 at Ladbrokes for another shot on target.

Cédric Bakambu has committed a foul in five games in a row and is 1.36 at Midnite to do it again.

Manu Duah has made at least one tackle in each of his last eight, averaging 1.5 a game, and Seattle's H. Dotson has done the same in five straight at 1.6 a game.

Kieran Sargeant has made a tackle in six straight games for San Diego, averaging 2.5 a game.

Match Leaders

Odds and Statz prediction

We back San Diego, who are 2.10 at bet365 to win a game we give them a 45% chance of taking. Seattle Sounders are 3.00 and the draw is 3.90. We project 1.79 goals for the hosts and 1.43 for the visitors.

Our prediction is San Diego 1-1 Seattle Sounders, the likeliest single score at 11%, though we make San Diego 45% to win, Seattle 30% and the draw 25%. A 2-1 home win is next at 9%. Both teams to score comes in at 64%.

Our player lines start with a pair of shots on target: Dreyer (1.30 at Ladbrokes), who has done it in five straight games, and Joveljić (1.33 at Ladbrokes), who has done it in ten. Bakambu to commit a foul (1.36 at Midnite) and Cristian Roldán to have a shot (1.25 at bet365) make up the rest; Roldán has had a shot in four of his last five.