FC Cincinnati at Nashville SC 4/17/21 - MLS Picks & Predictions

It’s a clash between two of the youngest teams in the MLS on Saturday, when Nashville SC will play host to Cincinnati. Nashville were tremendous last season and made a bang for a newcomer. Cincinnati were the exactly opposite last season, displaying extreme offensive weaknesses and finishing at the bottom of the Conference.

Nashville SC are coming off an extremely good inaugural MLS campaign, in which they reached the playoffs. They finished 7th in the East with a 8-7-8 record and the 3rd best defense. They only lost two of their 11 matches at home last season (4-2-5), scoring 14 goals and conceding just 9 in the process. Nashville stunned Inter Miami and Toronto in the playoffs before losing (not easily) against Columbus in the Conference semi-final.

Cincinnati are coming off a really bad season, and the problem clearly was their offense. They scored just 12 goals in 23 matches in the regular season, which was by FAR the worst offense with 0.5 goals per match. Of course they finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just 16 points, while they were extremely bad on the road. They lost 10 of their 12 away matches last season, scoring just 7 and conceding 26 goals in the process.