Gregg Berhalter said he was pleased with the Chicago Fire's progress this season but urged his players to improve despite thrashing D.C. United 7-1 in their last MLS fixture.

The Fire have endured an indifferent season in Berhalter's first campaign at the helm, picking up 25 points from their first 16 games, sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference.

Following a 3-1 defeat to New York City FC at the end of May, Chicago have put together back-to-back league wins, scoring 10 goals against Orlando City FC and D.C. United.

Berhalter, however, acknowledged that his team do still have certain aspects to improve on over the coming weeks to try and finish as high as possible in the standings.

"I think a better way to look at this is that we just want to keep getting better," Berhalter said. "We know we are not there yet, and we know that we still have to improve.

"But we need to keep working. I think that the group has not surprised me, but they are a really good group to work with because of the effort they put in during training.

"That's the fundamental for everything. We know we need to keep getting better, and we know that we need to add some more quality to the roaster.

"But with that work ethic as the foundation, it's a real positive for us to take moving forward."

The Fire face a stern test this weekend in Nashville SC, who have yet to taste defeat in the MLS since a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders on April 19.

Nashville's eight-game unbeaten run in the league started with a 7-2 thrashing of the Fire, which has been followed up with three wins and four draws.

The Coyotes sit fourth in the Eastern Conference and will be plenty rested, having not played since May 31 when they played out a 2-2 draw with NYCFC.

Nashville head coach B.J. Callaghan said that their break from league play has given him time to reflect on the first half of the season and what they need to do to improve.

"I think we have had a nice little pause coming up to the halfway point," Callaghan said. "It gave us a good opportunity to reflect on the first half of the season.

"It gave us some ideas on some areas we need to refine a little bit, and now we're really starting out as a blank canvas for the second half of the season. That is our mindset.

"We are being very open-minded and taking some of the things we have learned that make us difficult to play against, and we will continue to improve those areas.

"But in the areas we want to improve, we want to elevate those as well. That is what the last week has been focused on in getting those phases dialled in with some more detail."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Chicago Fire – Tom Barlow

Barlow scored his first career hat-trick in the Fire's 7-1 win over D.C. United on Saturday, the first hat-trick by a Chicago player since Nemanja Nikolic in October 2017.

The Fire had the third-longest drought without a hat-trick, behind only the New England Revolution (last in September 2017) and the Portland Timbers (never).

Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar

Mukhtar has scored eight goals in seven regular-season meetings with Chicago, including two hat-tricks, but he is not the only Nashville player who has enjoyed success against the Fire.

Indeed, Sam Surridge has scored six times in three games against this weekend's hosts, including a four-goal performance back in April.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Nashville are unbeaten in 10 straight matches in all competitions (W6 D4), the longest streak in club history. They have scored multiple goals in six of the last seven matches in this run.

Chicago, meanwhile, have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions (L1), including a 7-1 win over D.C. United. The Fire's seven-goal performance equalled a club record set in a 7-0 win over Sporting Kansas City in July 2001.

But it was seventh heaven for Nashville the last time the two sides met. They scored a club-record seven goals the last time they played Chicago, a 7-2 home win on April 26. The Coyotes have won five of the eight all-time meetings (D2 L1), including the last three in a row.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Chicago Fire – 34.6%

Draw – 25.9%

Nashville SC – 39.6%