By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #RSLvSKC

"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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Unbeaten in nine straight games across all competitions, Western Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City (8-4-8, 32 points) travel west to renew a rivalry with eighth-place Real Salt Lake (7-12-2, 23 points) on Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium. In the first showdown between the clubs on April 29, Sporting KC earned a 3-0 home win behind goals from Benny Feilhaber, Dom Dwyer and Gerso to snap a seven-game winless run in the regular season series. 

Saturday's kickoff is set for 9 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO. The match will also be joined live in progress on FOX Sports Kansas City after Royals baseball, with live radio broadcasts on ESPN 99.3 FM, Sports Radio 810 WHB (joined in progress after Royals baseball) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish) We take a statistical look at the contest in our By The Numbers preview.

Head-to-head

• The all-time regular season series is dead even through 24 games, with both teams owning nine wins and six draws.
• Sporting KC has a 3-6-3 road record in the series, including a winless run of three matches at Rio Tinto Stadium. A dramatic 2-1 away win in July 2013, decided by Ike Opara's 97th-minute header, was followed by a pair of 2-1 road defeats in 2015 and a scoreless draw on the penultimate weekend of the 2016 campaign last October.
• Sporting KC won the first meeting of 2017 by a 3-0 scoreline on April 29 at Children's Mercy Park, using goals from Benny Feilhaber, Dom Dwyer and Gerso to snap a seven-game regular season winless skid against RSL (0-4-3).
• Feilhaber has four goals and two assists in his last seven appearances vs. RSL in all competitions.
• Outside of regular season play, Sporting KC has defeated Real Salt Lake in each of the last two meetings. Peter Vermes' men beat RSL in the 2013 MLS Cup and the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals.

Real Salt Lake

• 2017 MLS record: 7-12-2, 23 points (8th in West)
• 2017 MLS home record: 4-4-1 (9 GF, 10 GA)
• Last five games: 3-2-0, 9 points (W-L-L-W-W)
• Last MLS match: W 4-1 at Portland Timbers on Wednesday
• RSL leads MLS in total shots (306) and ranks second in shots on target (108).
• RSL is second in MLS in both chances created (226) and chances created per game (10.8).
• RSL has scored 10 goals in its last two games after scoring just 17 in its previous 19. The club has recorded two straight impressive wins away from home, defeating LA Galaxy 6-2 on July 4 and the Portland Timbers 4-1 on Wednesday.
• RSL’s 1.95 goals allowed per game are the second-most in MLS. The team has faced 268 shots this season, third-most in MLS.
• Midfielder Albert Rusnak is tied for seventh in MLS with 44 chances created and tied for seventh with seven assists.
• Midfielder Joao Plata is ninth in MLS with 53 shots, including eight shots in a 4-1 win over Portland on Wednesday. Plata has three goals in his last two games.
• RSL has won three of the five matches in which defender Justen Glad has started this season.
• RSL has won each of the last three matches in which defender Tony Beltran has started.

 Sporting KC

• 2017 MLS record:8-4-8, 32 points (1st in West)
• 2017 MLS away record: 2-4-4 (5 GF, 9 GA)
• Last five games: 1-0-4, 7 points (T-T-W-T-T)
• Last MLS match: T 1-1 vs. Philadelphia Union on July 6
• SKC is unbeaten in nine straight matches across all competitions since the beginning of June (5-0-4). That includes a 2-0-4 mark in MLS.
• SKC's 14 goals conceded and 0.70 goals against average are the lowest marks in MLS.
• SKC leads MLS with 14.6 shots per game while facing a league-low 9.2 shots per game. They also rank fifth with 5.0 shots on target per game.
• SKC is fourth in MLS with 10.6 chances created per game and second with 9.3 chances created from open play per game.
• SKC leads MLS in passes per game (523), successful passes per game (436) and passing accuracy (83.3) while ranking third in average possession (57.9).
• SKC's five away goals in 10 matches are the second-fewest in MLS.
• Goalkeeper Tim Melia has the second best goals against average in MLS at 0.70 and leads the league in shutouts (nine), penalty kick saves (three) and save percentage (81.1).
• Midfielder Ilie leads MLS with 1,428 passes attempted and ranks second with 1,224 passes completed. He is the only Sporting KC field player to play every minute of every match this season.
• Midfielder Benny Feilhaber is tied for third in MLS with 48 chances created and tied for second with 32 chances created from open play.
• Winger Gerso is third in MLS with 85 dribbles attempted and also third with 40 dribbles completed.

Milestones and Miscellany

• Midfielder Benny Feilhaber is one shy of reaching 175 regular season starts 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 #SKCvRSL meetings

• Regular season record vs. RSL: 9-9-6 (30 GF, 29 GA)
• Regular season home record vs. RSL: 3-6-2 (13 GF, 17 GA)