By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #SKCvCHI

"By The Numbers" is a season-long series sponsored by The Kansas Department of Transportation, giving a statistical preview of every Sporting KC match.
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Two MLS Cup contenders collide Saturday when Sporting Kansas City (8-4-9, 33 points) and the Chicago Fire (11-4-5, 38 points) renew a long-time rivalry at Children's Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus, Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM. A limited number of tickets for Saturday's showdown are available via SeatGeek.com.

Sporting KC is riding a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions but will face a Chicago side that is unquestionably the most improved team in MLS from a year ago. The Fire boast four MLS All-Stars and are coming off a narrow defeat that snapped an impressive 8-0-3 stretch that saw Chicago temporarily move to the Eastern Conference summit. We take a statistical look at the marquee interconference matchup in our By The Numbers preview.

Head-to-head

• Sporting KC is 3-0-2 in its last five home matches against Chicago, including shutout victories in each of the previous two meetings (2-0 in October 2014 and 1-0 in May 2015).
• Chicago hasn't won at Children's Mercy Park since June 2012.
• Chicago holds a 26-14-11 edge in the regular season series. Sporting KC's 26 losses to the Fire are their most against any MLS team.
• The sides last met in July 2016 when Michael de Leeuw's 19th-minute strike gave Chicago a 1-0 win at Toyota Park.
• Sporting KC defender Graham Zusi has four goals and two assists in 13 regular season appearances against Chicago.
• Sporting KC goalkeeper Tim Melia made his club debut against the Fire with a 1-0 win on May 3, 2015, Chicago's most recent trip to Children's Mercy Park.

Chicago Fire

• 2017 MLS record: 11-4-5, 38 points (2nd in East)
• 2017 MLS away record: 2-4-4 (11 GF, 17 GA)
• Last five games: 3-1-1, 10 points (W-W-W-T-L)
• Last MLS match: L 1-2 at New York City FC on July 22
• Chicago's 38 points have already eclipsed their totals from the entirety of 2014 (36), 2015 (30) and 2016 (31).
• Chicago's plus-17 goal differential (38 GF, 21 GA) is the best in MLS.
• Chicago's nine goals in the first 15 minutes of matches are the second-most in MLS.
• Chicago is 11-0-2 when scoring the first goal and 0-4-2 when allowing the first goal.
• Chicago has a league-high four MLS All-Stars in Golden Boot leader Nemanja Nikolic, German World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, veteran midfielder Dax McCarty and defender Johan Kappelhof.
• Forward Nemanja Nikolic leads MLS with 16 goals, 38 shots on target, four multi-goal games and 37 offsides. Nikolic has gone scoreless in his last two games but has yet to go three straight matches without a goal in 2017.
• Forward David Accam has already reached career-highs in goals (11) and assists (seven).
• With Accam and Nikolic, Chicago is the only MLS team to have two players with at least 11 goals.
• Goalkeeper Matt Lampson is second in MLS in goals against average (0.75) and tied for third in shutouts (six).
• Juninho (89.3%) and Joao Meira (89.0%) rank seventh and eighth in MLS in passing accuracy among players with at least 200 passes completed.

 Sporting KC

• 2017 MLS record:8-4-9, 33 points (2nd in West)
• 2017 MLS home record: 6-0-4 (19 GF, 5 GA)
• Last five games: 1-0-4, 7 points (T-W-T-T-T)
• Last MLS match: T 1-1 at Real Salt Lake on July 22
• SKC is unbeaten in 10 straight matches across all competitions since the beginning of June (5-0-5). That includes a 2-0-5 mark in MLS. The 10-game unbeaten run is tied for the fourth-longest in club history.
• SKC is unbeaten in a club-record 19 straight regular season home matches dating back to June 2016. The 19-game run is tied for the sixth-longest home unbeaten streak in MLS regular season history.
• SKC has conceded just five goals in 10 home matches but has drawn each of its last three MLS home games by a 1-1 scoreline.
• SKC's 15 goals conceded and 0.71 goals against average are the lowest marks in MLS.
• SKC is third in MLS with 14.4 shots per game while facing a league-low 9.7 shots per game.
• SKC is fourth in MLS with 10.5 chances created per game and second with 9.2 chances created from open play per game.
• SKC leads MLS in passes per game (514), successful passes per game (428) and passing accuracy (83.2) while ranking second in average possession (57.3).
• Goalkeeper Tim Melia leads MLS in shutouts (nine), goals against average (0.71), penalty kick saves (three) and save percentage (81.7).
• Midfielder Ilie is second in MLS in both passes (1,476) and passes completed (1,261). He is the only Sporting KC field player to play every minute this season.
• Midfielder Benny Feilhaber is sixth in MLS with 48 chances created.
• Winger Gerso is third in MLS in both dribbles attempted (90) and dribbles competed (42).

Milestones and Miscellany

• Defender Matt Besler is one shy of his 250th start in all competitions for Sporting KC.
• Defender Seth Sinovic is one shy of his 150th regular season start for Sporting KC.
• Midfielder Benny Feilhaber is one shy of his 175th regular season start in his MLS career.
• Midfielder Cristian Lobato is in contention to make his MLS debut on Saturday.

Team stats (2017 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (source: Opta)

Recent #SKCvCHI meetings

• Regular season record vs. Chicago: 14-26-11 (59 GF, 86 GA)
• Regular season home record vs. Chicago: 10-8-9 (37 GF, 38 GA)