New York Red Bulls vs FC Dallas Prediction: The Red Bulls hold the advantage

The New York Red Bulls are back playing at home in game week 3 and they are going up against FC Dallas. The Red Bulls outdid themselves by beating Houston Dynamo away from home in the last round and the popular opinion is for them to follow up with another win in the forthcoming game given their current morale and form.

FC Dallas slumped to a defeat in the last round, against CF Montreal. It's unrealistic for any team to not prepare for defeats especially in the league games, but FC Dallas losing at home after an opening day win was surely not what they anticipated. Now, they face a tougher situation playing away against the Red Bulls and they hope to win.

A draw and a win in the opening 2 games is a solid result for the Red Bulls and a result that can motivate them ahead of the next round. They are back playing at home in game week 3 and they have all the advantage working in their favor.

They went behind in just 7 minutes into the game against Houston Dynamo and they responded brilliantly before the end of the game. Elias Manoel scored the equalizer in the 43rd minute before Lewis Morgan put them ahead with the second goal in the 59th minute. Altogether it was a good comeback win and Red Bulls manager Sandro Schwarz was satisfied with the performance of the team. They fell little behind on the possession, as they had just 44% while they also registered 5 shots on target. They also played 7 corners, they created 2 big chances and also hit the woodwork once.

Ahead of the visit from FC Dallas, there's absolute certainty that Sandro Schwarz will retain the 4-4-2 formation once again along with the starting 11. Peter Stroud is a doubt for this game after picking up an injury in the game against Houston Dynamo. He will most likely be replaced by Lewis Morgan on the right flank. Lewis Morgan seems like a worthy replacement for Stroud and he showed it in the last game as he came into the game from the bench and scored.

FC Dallas will be careful as they proceed into this game and it's understandable why. Suffering a defeat so early in the season is one thing but suffering another almost immediately can throw the team into an early crisis and FC Dallas will very much want to avoid that.

They appeared to be the better team in the game against CF Montreal, even though it ended in a 2-1 defeat. They played well to equalize in the 45th minute after going behind in the 2oth minute and the fans hoped they would capitalize in the second half, but on the contrary, they conceded another in the 60th minute and there was little they could do to escape defeat. However stats showed they had 55% possession, 7 shots on target and 4 corner kicks. Although they failed to create so much during the game and there was no record of counter attacking opportunities.

FC Dallas manager Nico Estevez has a lot of work to do to get the team playing together again. It's not expected that he should ditch the 3-4-2-1 formation but the effectiveness of the squad surely has to be considered ahead of the trip to New York.

The h2h shows in the last 20 meetings, New York Red Bulls won 10 matches, while FC Dallas won 4 matches and they played a draw in 5 matches.

The Red Bulls have a considerable amount of advantage behind them and they can't afford not to use it. FC Dallas don't have what it takes at the moment to get a win. They would need the Red Bulls to have an off day or be extremely lucky to get one. So it's all in the hands of the Red Bulls now.

According to the h2h, there's been more than 2.5 goals scored in 5 of their last 6 meetings. The New York Red Bulls also scored first in 5 of their last 6 meetings and the last 10 meetings ended with less than 4.5 cards. 

• New York Red Bulls to Win or Draw and Over 1.5 Goals at 1.6 Odds
• New York Red Bulls to Win or Draw and Over 1.5 Goals at 1.6 Odds
• New York Red Bulls to Win 2-1 at 8.50 Odds