By The Numbers: Sporting KC at Portland Timbers - Sept. 9, 2015

With Sporting Kansas City's bye week in the rearview mirror, the club embarks on a two-game road trip that begins Wednesday with a pivotal Western Conference clash against the Portland Timbers. The match at Providence Park will be televised on KMCI-TV 38 The Spot and SKCTV with three hours of live coverage beginning at 9 p.m. CT.

Sporting KC (11-7-7) and Portland (11-9-7) are level on 40 points in the MLS standings and currently occupy the final two playoff spots in the West. Peter Vermes' men will look to snap a three-game losing streak, while the Timbers hope to extend their nine-game home unbeaten run dating back to the start of May. We take a closer look at the matchup in our By The Numbers preview...

Head-to-head

• Sporting KC has a 2-1-0 all-time record at Portland, including a 1-0 win on their last visit to Providence Park in June 2014. The Timbers have mustered just two goals in those three matches combined.
• The away team in the #PORvSKC series has won four of seven meetings since 2011 (all competitions).
• In the all-time #PORvSKC regular season series, 11 of the 14 goals scored have come in the first half.
• The teams last met on March 21, playing to a 0-0 draw at Sporting Park, and will square off once more on Oct. 3 when Sporting KC makes another trek to Providence Park.

Portland Timbers

• 2015 MLS record: 11-9-7, 40 points (6th in West)
• 2015 MLS home record: 7-1-5 (19 GF, 9 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 2-1-2, 8 points (D-W-W-D-L)
• Portland is currently on a nine-game home unbeaten streak dating back to May 2 with a 6-0-3 record.
• Over the last 15 MLS matches, Portland has gained the second-most points of any team in the league entering this week's fixtures (8-4-3, 27 points). Only the LA Galaxy (29 points) have faired better over that span.
• Portland is third in MLS with 379 total shot attempts but ranks second-to-last with 29 goals.
• Fourteen of Portland's 29 regular season goals have come after the 75th minute, tied for most in MLS.
• Portland is 11-0-2 when scoring first (second-best mark in MLS) but 0-9-1 when conceding the first goal (second-worst mark in MLS).
• Darlington Nagbe leads MLS with 52 chances created from open play. No player has suffered more fouls since the start of 2013 than Nagbe (48 more than any other player).
• Fanendo Adi leads Portland with 10 MLS goals. No other Timbers player has more than three.
• Adam Kwarasey leads MLS with 11 cleans sheets this season, including seven at Providence Park.

Sporting KC

• 2015 MLS record: 11-7-7, 40 points (5th in West)
• 2015 MLS road record: 3-6-3 (17 GF, 20 GA)
• Last five MLS matches: 2-3-0, 6 points (W-W-L-L-L)
• SKC is unbeaten in two previous trips to the Pacific Northwest this season, earning a 0-0 draw at Seattle (May 23) and a 1-0 win at Vancouver (July 12).
• SKC is averaging 1.6 goals per game, fifth in MLS and on pace to be the team's fourth highest scoring season in club history behind 1996, 1997 and 2005.
• Eighteen of SKC's 35 goals allowed have been conceded over the last eight games. In contrast, SKC allowed just 17 goals through their first 17 MLS matches.
• Since 2011, SKC is the only MLS club with a winning regular season road record (31-30-19).
• Benny Feilhaber is second in MLS with 13 assists and leads the league with nine big chances created.
• Matt Besler ranks third in MLS with 172 clearances and has played in every minute of SKC's last 27 matches in all competitions.
• Kevin Ellis is tied for the lead among MLS defenders with three goals.
• Soni Mustivar (questionable for Wednesday's match with a groin strain) has a 13-2-3 record as a starter in all competitions and leads MLS with 5.9 interceptions per 90 minutes played.

Milestones and miscellany

• Graham Zusi ranks third in club history with 53 assists across all competitions, one shy of tying Chris Klein for second.
• Benny Feilhaber has recorded 18 assists across all competitions in 2015, one shy of breaking the single-season club record he currently shares with Preki (2003).

Team stats (2015 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (Opta stats as of Sept. 8, 2015)

Recent #PORvSKC regular season meetings

• Regular season record vs. Portland: 3-2-1 (8 GF, 6 GA)
• Regular season road record at Portland: 2-1-0 (3 GF, 2 GA)