Sounders vs. Revolution: MLS Pick

A cross-conference battle between New England and Seattle kicks off at Gillette Stadium in Boston on Saturday. Can the struggling Sounders get back on track with a win over the Revolution this weekend?

The Revolution are playing their best soccer of the season, and maybe that's why they're favorites for the meeting with Seattle - that, and the fact that they'll be at home, where they're 4-1-2 on the season.

Soccer odds makers have New England at +140 while the visiting Sounders can be backed at +185, certainly good value no matter how poorly they may be playing of late. 

Amazingly enough, after a scorching start to the season, Seattle has gone winless over their previous seven matches. 

Sounders on a slippery slope 

This string of poor play and bad luck has the Sounders all the way down in fourth place in the Western Conference standings now, a far cry from where they were only a few weeks back. 

Last weekend they fell in Portland 2-1 to the Timbers. Goals from Kris Boyd and David Horst proved too much for the Sounders to overcome, despite a second-half consolation from Eddie Johnson. To make matters worse, Fredy Montero was given his marching orders right before the final whistle following a completely unnecessary scuffle. 

The Sounders now play New England, who are unbeaten over their last three. They beat Chicago 2-0 on June 2 and then had successive draws against Columbus and Toronto. 

What a match it was against the Reds 

New England was down 2-0 through 71 minutes of play before Blake Brettschneider made things interesting with a goal. Then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Chris Tierney scored on a header to tie the match up and give the Revolution a point out of nothing. 

Despite not finding the net this past weekend, Saer Sene continues to score goals at a good clip for New England. He has seven in league play, five more than any other player on the Revolution. 

Sene, a French-born striker, fell out of favor for FC Bayern Munich II, the reserve team of the Champions League finalists and made the jump to America hoping to start fresh. We'd say it's worked out quite nicely. 

Viva la Revolution 

He may have his hands full this weekend though up against a Sounders squad that's allowed only 16 goals in 16 matches, the fewest out of all Western Conference teams.

For Seattle, Eddie Johnson and Mauro Rosales have been making things happen during these hard times. Johnson shares the lead with five goals on the seaso, while Rosales has three assists thus far. 

The Sounders might be having a hard go of things right now and, yes, they are away from the comfortable confines of their crazy home field advantage. But, this is still an excellent team, and it's not like they've been terrible away from home. They're 2-2-3 with a positive goal differential. 

Still, the Revolution are in good form at the moment and have lost only one match at home. Plus, they play a Seattle team that's without Fredy Montero, who was a thorn in New England's side (two goals) in his only appearance against them last season, and young playmaker David Estrada, who's out with a broken left foot. 

Those are two humungous losses for the Sounders.  

We will recommend staying away from Seattle until they show us that they've turned it around. Back the Revolution as favorites.