New England Revolution boss Caleb Porter is relishing a return to former side Columbus Crew but urged his team to try and cut out mistakes in their performances.

Porter managed the Crew from 2019 until 2022, leading them to the MLS Cup five years ago, as well as the Eastern Conference title and Campeones Cup the following year.

He took charge of the Revolution in December 2023 and, this season, has led the team to 11th in the Eastern Conference, though they have struggled of late.

New England were beaten 2-0 by Los Angeles FC last time out, with the Revolution now boasting one win in their last 11 league games, though Porter was confident heading into the weekend.

"We have been good on the road," Porter said. "I am not worried about that because the confidence is good away from home, because we have got the results. The belief is there.

"I think the challenges over the last two games was we were playing two very good teams in LAFC and now Columbus. You saw last game that we had to be perfect to win.

"We made one mistake. We played well enough but were punished for that mistake. When you're playing teams like that, you have to play well and the margins are tighter.

"You have to make sure you don't make mistakes. If we play like we did last game, which I think we will, we're going to be in a good position to take the result."

They face a Columbus side who are also struggling to find form, having taken just four points from their last four league matches, but still sit sixth in the Eastern Conference.

The Crew played out a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC last time out, with Jules-Anthony Vilsaint scoring a late equaliser to put some pressure on their place in the playoffs.

Just six points separates the New York Red Bulls outside the postseason line and Columbus, with midfielder Sean Zawazski acknowledging his team must improve moving forward.

"We know how tight the Eastern Conference is, albeit we don't want to look at that and see that everything's in our hands," Zawadzki said. "We want to play the way we want to.

"We want to get results and focus on us. But obviously, you look at the table and you see how tight it is in a game like this, no matter home or away, we have to get results.

"In winning positions, we have to continue to fight and continue to push and solidify these games when we have the goal lead.

"And can we work better as a team in locking down these moments and feeling more comfortable and preventing them from having any real goal-scoring opportunities?". 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Columbus Crew – Diego Rossi

Rossi has scored the Crew's only goals in each of their last two matches, including in the 1-1 draw with Toronto on Saturday.

He has now been directly involved in six (five goals, one assist) of the Crew's last 13 goals (excluding own goals) and will be keen to make his mark here.

NE Revolution – Carles Gil

Despite failing to get on the scoresheet, New England captain Gil set up four of his side's 11 shots in their defeat to LAFC last time out.

The Spaniard has also created 79 chances in the MLS this season, a total only bettered by Cristian Espinoza (89) of the San Jose Earthquakes.

MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN

Columbus are unbeaten in 10 straight home matches against New England in all competitions (W6 D4), including a 4-0 victory the last time the sides met at Lower.com Field in October 2024.

The Crew did, however, lose their last regular-season home match. They have not lost consecutive home league games in over three years, since defeats to Nashville SC and Orlando City SC in April 2022.

New England, meanwhile, were beaten by LAFC last time out, which was the club's eighth defeat in their last 11 matches (W1 D2). The Revolution's five points are tied for the second fewest in MLS since that run began in mid-June with only D.C. United (two) taking fewer in that time.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Columbus Crew – 67.7%

Draw – 17.8%

NE Revolution – 14.4%