- Saint Louis City SC are the form team (W4, D1) and are in better form than Sporting Kansas City, who are struggling with 1 win and 4 losses from their last 5 matches.
- St. Louis City have failed to win their last 2 away to Sporting Kansas City in MLS 2026, keeping this one from feeling one-sided.
- Dejan Joveljic is the biggest danger for SKC in terms of scoring goals (8 in 18 in MLS 2026) and he has scored 2 of their 5 goals in their last 5 games.
High-energy derby likely to deliver goals
The MLS standings say everything about these two clubs in 2026, with Sporting Kansas City down in 29th place on 14 points from 18 matches and visitors St. Louis City in 13th spot on 26 from the same number of games.
That means the home side are in worse form than their visitors, who have won four and drawn one of their last five games, although they have not won the last two derbies against SKC.
The visitors' last two games saw them beat Colorado Rapids 1-0 at home, before a 1-1 draw at home to Real Salt Lake kept them ticking over.
Raphael Wicky wants his side to play in a possession-heavy, attack-minded way from the back in their 4-3-3 system and have been playing that way to a greater or lesser extent.
St. Louis' Yoann Damet has his players pressing high and hunting turnovers while being very compact when they are without the ball, set up to win it back quickly and play with pace.
That should be an interesting contrast and means this match could become a chess game where Sporting KC try to play through St. Louis's press while the visitors try to cause turnovers and strike on the break.
The home team have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 5 of their 9 home games in MLS 2026 while St. Louis City have won 2, drawn 3 and lost 4 of their 9 away games, averaging 0.89 goals per game in favour and conceding 1.56.
That makes the St Louis City team the slight favourites at 2.02 with Sporting Kansas City coming in at 3.2 and the draw at 3.85.
The markets lean towards goals with Over 2.5 at 1.5 and BTTS Yes at 1.45, so this should be a lively derby encounter.
Wicky's men have the advantage of playing on home turf, but Damet's side have the momentum and a slight edge in the derby, so we're taking them to get a close win in a high-energy match.
There have been 3 games between these clubs in MLS 2026 to date and SKC have won 1, St. Louis City have won 1 and they drew the other. The 2026 campaign started with a 3-2 win for the away side and that's our correct score prediction this time around.
