Minnesota United vs Puebla Prediction & Betting Tips - Leagues Cup

Prediction published on 22/07/2023, 15:48  by Joseph King | Modified on 23/07/2023 at 13:00 in Football Predictions

Group E of the new-look Leagues Cup gets underway with MLS club Minnesota United playing host to Liga MX side Puebla. With only two matches being played by each team in the group stage, a win likely sees a team through to the knockout rounds. Both teams will take on the Chicago Fire, the third team in the group, on different dates for their next fixture. Minnesota have experienced an up-and-down season so far in the 2023 MLS campaign. However, the return of star player Emanuel Reynoso in the beginning of June has given this team a real threat on the offensive side. They’re starting to put together some solid results and have now lost only once in their last five MLS fixtures. The Loons’ most recent outing ended in a 1-1 home draw with LAFC. Minnesota United were a bit unfortunate in that match to only walk away with a point as they were the more proactive team, creating four clear cut chances to LAFC's two.

Mexican side Puebla come into their Leagues Cup opener on a difficult stretch of form. They’ve not had a good start to the new season with a draw and two losses in their first three matches. Puebla’s most recent fixture resulted in a heavy 3-0 away defeat to America, their second straight loss. Dating back to the previous league season, Puebla have only tasted victory once in their last eight games. During that eight match stretch, Puebla also failed to keep a single clean sheet. This could be a difficult fixture for the Liga MX club as their away results in the 2022/23 campaign were overall quite poor. The Sweet Potatoers won only three of their 19 away fixtures, drawing seven and losing the remaining nine. What has been even more discouraging for Puebla has been the worrying stats that they have put up in their first three games. They have the highest expected goals against in the Liga MX at 9.2.