St. Louis City vs Real Salt Lake Prediction and Betting Tips | February 24th 2024
St. Louis City will be looking to get off and running in the new MLS campaign when they play host to Real Salt Lake in their season opener on Saturday.
Pablo Mastroeni’s men journey to Citypark off the back of an opening-day defeat against a Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami side and will aim to quickly find their feet.
St. Louis City enjoyed a superb debut campaign in the MLS as they clinched the Western Conference title last season with 56 points from 34 matches.
However, Bradley Carnell’s side were quickly dumped out of the playoffs as they suffered a 6-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of Sporting Kansas City in the first round.
Off the back of a decent pre-season campaign, St. Louis secured a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup first qualifying round on Tuesday and will look to build on that result.
Elsewhere, Real Salt Lake were denied a dream start to the new campaign as they fell to a 2-0 loss against Inter Miami at DRV PNK Stadium on Wednesday.
This was a far cry from their promising performances in pre-season, where they picked up two wins and one draw in their three warm-up matches.
Real Salt Lake enjoyed a solid 2023 campaign as they finished fifth in the West before also crashing out of the playoffs in the first round against Houston Dynamo.
St. Louis City vs Real Salt Lake Head-To-Head and Key Numbers
- This will be just the third meeting between St. Louis City and Real Salt Lake, with both sides claiming one win each in their previous two encounters
- They first met in March 2023 when St. Louis cruised to a 4-0 victory at the Rio Tinto Stadium before Mastroeni’s men returned the favor three months later courtesy of a 3-1 win in Missouri.
- St. Louis have lost their last four MLS matches, conceding 11 goals and scoring twice since a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on October 1.
- Real Salt Lake are on a run of four consecutive away defeats across all competitions, stretching back to a 1-0 win at Colorado Rapids on October 22.
St. Louis City vs Real Salt Lake Prediction
Buoyed by their win in the CONCACAF Champions Cup qualifiers, St. Louis City will head into the weekend with sky-high spirits.
While Real Salt Lake will be looking to bounce back from their opening-day defeat, they have struggled for results away from home, and we fancy Carnell’s men to come away with all three points.
Prediction: St. Louis City 2-1 Real Salt Lake
St. Louis City vs Real Salt Lake Betting Tips
Tip 1: Result - St. Louis to win
Tip 2: Over 2.5 goals - Yes (There have been three or more goals scored in seven of St. Louis’ last eight matches)
Tip 3: Both sides to score - Yes (Both sides have also scored in seven of the hosts' last eight outings)