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MLS Week 6 Odds & Picks: NYCFC vs Columbus, Portland vs LA Galaxy & Chicago vs Miami

Ryan Metivier

by Ryan Metivier in Soccer News

Updated May 21, 2021 · 10:20 AM PDT

MLS Week 6
Inter Miami fans cheer on their team against Atlanta United during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Sunday, May 9, 2021, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol)
  • MLS Week 6 sees 13 matches spread across Saturday May 22 to Sunday May 23
  • Over four games in 2020, 24 goals were scored between the Timbers and Galaxy
  • Read on for the odds and our best bets from MLS Week 6 here

MLS Week 6 kicks off on Saturday with a heavy slate of ten fixtures, followed by another three on Sunday. Will Chicharito and the Galaxy stay hot? Can the Fire finally win, and will the Crew get things going against NYCFC?

The league-leading Seattle Sounders will entertain Atlanta United in the showcase match on Sunday, while the LA Galaxy will look to stay hot and keep pace with Seattle as they’re currently four points back of the leaders in the West. On the other side of Los Angeles, LAFC find themselves at the foot of the West table and will be looking to get back on track at home to Colorado.

Let’s look ahead to the odds and best bets from the MLS Week 6 schedule below.

MLS Week 6 Odds

Matchup Home Draw Away
CF Montreal vs FC Cincinnati -127 +260 +325
Portland Timbers vs LA Galaxy -118 +260 +310
Chicago Fire vs Inter Miami +118 +270 +195
Orlando City vs Toronto FC -107 +250 +280
New York City FC vs Columbus Crew -157 +280 +420
FC Dallas vs Real Salt Lake -107 +260 +270
New England Revolution vs New York Red Bulls -120 +260 +310
Houston Dynamo vs Vancouver Whitecaps -195 +320 +500
San Jose Earthquakes vs Sporting KC +148 +260 +163
LAFC vs Colorado Rapids -143 +270 +380
Seattle Sounders vs Atlanta United -162 +270 +460
DC United vs Philadelphia Union +180 +230 +148
Nashville SC vs Austin FC -130 +245 +380

Odds as of May 20 at DraftKings

Portland Timbers vs LA Galaxy Prediction

It’s ninth hosting second in the West when the Portland Timbers entertain the LA Galaxy at 3:30 pm EST Saturday afterooon on MLS Week 6.

After Cincinnati (4-0), the LA Galaxy have the highest rate of matches which have gone OVER 2.5 at 4-1. They cashed four-straight OVERs before last week’s 2-0 win over Austin FC. Austin have looked respectable in their debut season, however, on the road without Alex Ring, it was no surprise they struggled last week.

This week it’s the Galaxy on the road, heading to Providence Park to face the Timbers. Portland has both won and lost at home this season by 2-1 scorelines. They aren’t in the best of form at just 2-0-3 (WDL) so far, but are coming off a 2-0 win over San Jose last week. Outside of their Week 1 loss to Vancouver, they’ve now scored in four-straight.

There’s lot of recent meetings to compare with these teams as they met on four occasions in 2020 and they were all wild affairs with a combined 24 goals being scored. Portland won three of the four by scorelines of 2-1, 6-3 and 5-2, while the Galaxy took one, winning 3-2.

There’s enough offense on both sides to see a few goals in this one and also some questionable defending which will help OVER bets. The Timbers are also down to third-string keeper Logan Ketterer whom they recently signed on loan. Also, with seven goals in five games, you could do worse than placing a bet on the league’s leading goalscorer Chicharito to find the back of the net.

Pick: Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 (-138) / Chicharito to Score (-105) at Bet365

Chicago Fire vs Inter Miami Prediction

The Chicago Fire are still winless after five matches after falling 1-0 to DC last week and will look to change that when they host Inter Miami at 6:00 pm EST Saturday evening on MLS Week 6. Chicago are second-from-bottom in the East above only Cincinnati, while Miami are seventh, with a balanced record of 2-2-2, scoring eight and conceding nine.

Chicago have found the back of the net just three times this season and two of those came in the first half of their first game. In fact both came in the opening 11 minutes. On the other end of the pitch they’ve shipped ten goals.

This will be the first-ever meeting between these two sides with Miami only entering the league last season.

The Fire have been a mess for a while, but they had moments last year when you saw some potential. After a full offseason with the squad I had some hope Raphael Wickey could get a little more out of the Fire this season. After all, they have one of the league’s top strikers in Robert Beric and he and the team as a whole were among the leaders in MLS in expected goals (xG) last season.

But nothing has gone right so far. They do though still rank mid-pack in the East (7th) in xG at 6.7 so there may be some hope for improvement.

And Miami may be the team they can find it against. Miami have conceded a goal in 21 of their 25 all-time matches including in five of six this season. They conceded twice to the usually goal-starved FCC last week.

Meanwhile the Fire are winless in 11 straight matches dating back into last season. They’ve conceded in each of those 11 for a total of 23 goals against.

To me this one looks set up to be one of the wilder matches of MLS Week 6 which should see goals from both sides and at least three total.

Pick: Both Teams to Score & Over 2.5 (-110 at Bet365)

NYCFC vs Columbus Crew Prediction

Only three points separate NYCFC (8 points) and the Columbus Crew (5 points) in the East, however, they are on completely opposite ends of the table when it comes to goals, specifically, xG. The Citizens have scored ten times this season, slightly outperforming their xG of 9.5, which ranks first in the East. For Columbus they have just three goals, all versus DC and two of those were own goals. Their xG of 3.1 is dead last in both the East and all of MLS. The next lowest is Cincinnati at 4.9. Not good company to be keeping.

Now, some of New York’s numbers can be propped up by a 5-0 rout of FC Cincinnati, but their xG in that game was only 2.0—all five goals came on set pieces. They’ve still managed to record a double-digit xG in every other game (1.5, 2.5, 1.6 and 1.8), while also allowing a miniscule expected goals against (xGA) of 0.6 or fewer in all but the Cincinnati match (1.1).

That doesn’t stack up well for a Crew team that outside of recording a 1.5 xG in Week 1, haven’t exceeded 0.7 in any of their next four matches, while allowing a double-digit xGA in all five matches.

NYCFC head into this MLS Week 6 match with the Crew at 7:30 pm EST Saturday evening as -157 favorites and rightly so. They look like a good bet with the Crew in an early season funk.

Pick: NYCFC to win (-157)

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