Sanchez set to miss D.C. United clash as Eullaffroy backs star to recover Montreal's lost points

CF Montreal head coach Philippe Eullaffroy believes newly signed Alexis Sanchez can help his side recover the "lost points" that have dragged them down the Eastern Conference standings — even if the Chilean star must wait to make his debut.

Sanchez completed a free transfer to Montreal on Tuesday, but the Eastern Conference clash with D.C. United at home on Saturday comes too soon for the veteran forward, who is instead expected to make his first appearance against the Columbus Crew on Wednesday.

Montreal have been desperately short of cutting edge in attack, scoring just twice across their last four games (D2 L2). Their last MLS win came in early May, and both of those recent goals arrived in the comeback 2-2 draw against the New England Revolution last time out. The barren run has seen them slip to 14th in the Eastern Conference.

'We're missing that last bit of finish'

Eullaffroy, who took the reins on an interim basis, admitted the signing left him awestruck before quickly turning to the practical task of integrating a player of Sanchez's pedigree.

"The emotion I was feeling (about the signing) was 'wow,'" Eullaffroy said. "I immediately thought about when he was playing at Arsenal and his amazing season in Marseille.

"After that you say 'OK, now I need to manage him. What can he bring to the team and how can we put him in the best condition to show his abilities?

"We're missing that last bit of finish, and if you look at the numbers, we've lost six points because of it.

"The hope is that this player is the one to help us get those lost points back. We're not far off in every game we play."

Players to watch

CF Montreal – Brayan Vera

Vera scored his first goal for Montreal in their 2-2 draw with New England last time out, and the strike came from outside the area. Eight of Vera's 10 career regular-season goals have come from outside the box, with one of the other two being a penalty.

D.C. United – Tai Baribo

Baribo scored for a fourth consecutive regular-season game with his game-tying goal against Nashville SC last time out. It is the first time D.C. have had a player score in at least four consecutive MLS games since Ola Kamara scored in six straight matches during the 2021 season.

Form and match context

D.C. United arrive unbeaten in their last five games, though four of those have ended in draws. Like Montreal, they fought back from two goals down last time out to rescue a point against Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC.

Montreal and D.C. United have played out draws in four of their last six regular-season meetings, including the last three in a row. Prior to this stretch, the two teams had recorded consecutive league draws just once, with a pair of 1-1 draws in 2016.

The Opta supercomputer's projections suggest a draw is possible, though Montreal are given the edge on home soil — despite Saturday's hosts going winless in their last seven regular-season games (D4 L3). That marks their fourth consecutive season with a winless streak of at least seven matches, after having only two such streaks within a single season (both in 2014) across the previous 11 years.

Opta win probability

CF Montreal – 46.1%
D.C. United – 27.2%
Draw – 26.7%

Match prediction: CF Montreal win.