St. Louis City interim head coach David Critchley believes his team can recover from their recent defensive struggles, but not immediately.

St. Louis have lost each of their last three MLS games by the same scoreline of 3-2, and have not kept a clean sheet in the league since a goalless draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps on April 20.

They face FC Dallas next in the league as they look to finish their MLS campaign on a high, with any hopes of making the playoffs all but over as they sit 14th in the Western Conference, 14 points behind ninth-place San Jose Earthquakes.

Critchley is confident that he can help turn St. Louis' form around, but insisted the change could not happen instantly.

"I've spoken about the word balance quite a lot. That is massively important," said Critchley.

"We know we can create goals, we can score and create a lot of chances, but we also have to be mindful that we are conceding goals.

"Right now. one of the objectives is to break bad habits that some of the guys might have had throughout the season. Not just break bad habits but develop new habits as well. So that is something that just takes time.

"You can't make a fix in a couple of weeks. I will give the guys credit, they are applying themselves every day against the ball.

"We just keep going every single week. We have to create more chances, then we have to limit the opponents."

Dallas, meanwhile, are 12th, five points off the playoff places in the West and have two games in hand over the Earthquakes.

They have drawn their last two games against Los Angeles FC and Austin FC respectively, following a 2-0 win against the Portland Timbers.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen

Eduard Lowen has been in good form for St. Louis recently, scoring in each of their last two games while assisting in their most recent win against Nashville SC.

Lowen has scored in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Only three times in St. Louis' history has a player scored in three straight games, including Lowen himself in May-June 2023.

FC Dallas – Logan Farrington

Logan Farrington scored his fifth goal of the season in Dallas' last outing and has also provided two assists this season.

Farrington is one of three MLS players with at least five goals on 10 or fewer shots on target this season, along with Minnesota United’s Anthony Markanich and St. Louis City’s Eduard Lowen.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

St. Louis have lost each of their last three matches by a 3-2 scoreline. No team in the post-shootout era has lost four straight MLS matches while also scoring multiple goals.

Four of Dallas' seven MLS wins this season have come in road matches, as the team is averaging 1.4 points per road match in MLS in 2025. That would be the highest road points per match in a season in club history (1.3 in both 2007 and 2010).

Dallas have just one loss in five regular-season meetings with St. Louis (W3 D1), including three straight clean sheets. Dallas' longest league shutout streak against a single opponent is four games against the New England Revolution (2012-2015) and Orlando City (2015-18).

In their last six league matches, St. Louis have won one and lost five. Dallas, meanwhile, have won two, drawn three and lost one in their last six.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

St Louis City – 40.1%

Draw – 26.6%

FC Dallas – 33.3%