Following a big loss at home to FC Cincinnati last weekend, Chicago Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter has admitted that his side were not up to the mark.

Chicago lost 3-2 to a high-flying Cincinnati side that have climbed up to second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Evander starred with two goals, while Kevin Denkey provided another to seal the win. Despite Hugo Cuypers and Brian Gutierrez getting on the scoresheet, it was a challenging outing for Chicago, who find themselves in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one point outside the top seven.

Evander scored after just nine minutes, though Cuypers levelled shortly after. Denkey then edged Cincinnati in front, and Evander added further gloss. Gutierrez reduced the deficit from 12 yards out in the dying minutes, but it was never enough to conjure hopes of a comeback.

Reflecting on the match, Berhalter admitted that it was a disappointing performance from his side.

“I think it was an extremely disappointing performance from the group,” the former USMNT coach said, as he looks to pick his side up for this week's visit to Nashville SC.

“We talked about carrying momentum, carrying the same type of intensity that we showed up with last week and I didn't feel like we did that.

“We can talk all we want, you know, pre-match and during the week about what type of team we want to be, but now it's about going out on the pitch and doing it.

“And I don't feel like we brought enough, and in truth, we didn't deserve to win that game.”

Nashville, meanwhile, are coming off a similarly bruising result: a 3-0 loss away to the Seattle Sounders last Saturday.

Danny Musovski, Pedro de la Vega and Paul Rothrock scored within 15 first-half minutes to put Seattle in the driver’s seat, with B.J. Callaghan’s side suffering their fourth loss of the season.

Callaghan rued a lack of composure from Sam Surridge and Ahmed Qasem in that game, with both players squandering good chances to reduce the margin of defeat.

Nashville saw their six-game MLS scoring streak halted with that loss, placing them sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar

Mukhtar has scored six career goals in five regular-season matches against Chicago.

Mukhtar’s 1.5 goals per 90 minutes against Chicago ranks as the sixth highest by any player against a single opponent in MLS history (with a minimum of 350 minutes played).

Chicago Fire – Jonathan Bamba

Bamba recorded his fifth assist in his ninth career match for Chicago on Saturday, setting up Cuypers for the equaliser in the 31st minute.

He is the fourth player in Fire history to record five assists before his 10th appearance for the club, joining Patrick Doody, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Piotr Nowak.

MATCH PREDICTION: NASHVILLE WIN

Nashville have lost only one of seven all-time meetings with Chicago (W4 D2), including winning three of four at home (D1), outscoring the Fire 10-2 in those four meetings in Tennessee.

Current form is a concern for Nashville though, having lost three of their last four matches (W1) after losing only one of their first five this season (W3 D1).

Nashville have allowed eight goals over the course of the last four matches, after conceding just three in their first five matches of the season.

Chicago have some good attacking form to take confidence from. Berhalter’s side have scored 16 goals this season, tied for third most in MLS (San Jose 19, Vancouver 17).

This is the most Chicago have scored through nine matches of a season since netting 17 times in their first nine matches in 2014, but they are outsiders on their travels.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nashville SC – 51.8%

Draw – 24.6%

Chicago Fire – 23.6%