By The Numbers presented by KDOT: #SKCvRSL - April 2, 2016

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Three MLS clubs remain unbeaten entering the month of April, and two of them will go head-to-head at 7:30 pm. CT Saturday at Children's Mercy Park. Sporting KC (3-0-0) and Real Salt Lake (1-0-2) continue a rivalry that reached a boiling point in 2015 when the sides met four times across all competitions.

Saturday's match will be televised on 38 The Spot and SKCTV with three hours of live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. CT, while listeners can follow the action on 99.3 FM and 1340 AM. A limited number of tickets for the Western Conference tilt are still available at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL. We take a statistical look at the game in our By The Numbers preview…

Head-to-head

• Sporting KC holds a narrow edge in the all-time regular season series with an 8-7-5 record, including a 5-1-4 mark at home.
• RSL has struggled to win in Kansas City, going 1-6-5 across all competitions with the lone victory coming in 2009.
• RSL is winless in seven straight trips to Kansas City across all competitions.
• RSL has never scored in four regular season games at Children's Mercy Park (0-2-2), and has mustered just five shots on goal in those four matches.
• RSL hasn't scored a regular season goal in Kansas City since 2010, a streak of 417 minutes.
• Sporting KC is winless in four regular season meetings since the start of 2014.
• The road team in this fixture has just one win in the last 12 meetings across all competitions, coming in July 2013 when Ike Opara headed home a 97th-minute winner at Rio Tinto Stadium.
• RSL held the upper hand during the 2015 regular season, winning twice at home and securing a 0-0 draw in Kansas City. Sporting KC, however, won a dramatic U.S. Open Cup semifinal at Children's Mercy Park on Aug. 12, erasing an early deficit to win 3-1.
• Sporting KC and RSL combined for 20 yellow cards and one red card in four meetings last season, including the Open Cup semifinal.

Real Salt Lake

• 2016 MLS record: 1-0-2, 5 points (6th in West)
• 2016 MLS road record: 0-0-2 (4 GF, 4 GA)
• For the first time in their 12-year history, RSL has scored multiple goals in each of their first three games of the regular season.
• RSL has blown a pair of 2-0 leads after the 75th minute this season, both on the road: a 2-2 draw at Orlando City SC on March 6 (conceded in 94th and 95th minutes) and a 2-2 draw at Portland on March 19 (conceded in 79th and 84th minutes).
• RSL leads MLS with three red cards. New England (two) is the only other team with more than one. Defender Jamison Olave, midfielder Kyle Beckerman and forward Burrito Martinez will miss Saturday's match as they serve one-game suspensions.
• RSL ranks 19th in MLS with nine shots per game and has been outshot by an average of 15-9 this season.
• Entering the weekend, Joao Plata is tied for second in MLs with three goals and is one of three players (Will Bruin, Ignacio Piatti) with three goals and two assists. Plata has scored four goals in all competitions, including his strike against Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League on March 2.

Sporting Kansas City

• 2016 MLS record: 3-0-0, 6 points (1st in West)
• 2016 MLS home record: 2-0-0 (3 GF, 1 GA)
• SKC is off to its third 3-0-0 start in club history (2006, 2012). The only time SKC started 4-0-0 was in 2012 when the team won its first seven matches.
• SKC has allowed one goal through three games, the fewest in MLS, and has yet to concede a goal from the run of play. The only other time SKC didn't allow such a goal through three games of the season was 2012, when Peter Vermes' men started six games without allowing a goal from the run of play.
• SKC ranks second in MLS in average possession (57%) and passing accuracy (82%), and has faced a league-low 9.7 shots per game.
• Peter Vermes has selected the same starting lineup in three straight regular season games, the first time he has done so since March 2013. That streak is sure to end on Saturday, as Roger Espinoza will serve a one-game red card suspension.
• Soni Mustivar is one of two MLS players (Wil Trapp) with at least 60 passes per game and a passing accuracy above 87%.

Milestones and miscellany

• Chance Myers is one shy of his 150th MLS appearance for Sporting KC (including playoffs).
• Brad Davis is one shy of his 41st career game-winning assist, which would tie the MLS regular season record with Landon Donovan and Steve Ralston.
• Dom Dwyer is one shy of tying Chris Klein for fourth place in club history with 39 regular season goals.
• Graham Zusi is one assist shy of passing Chris Klein for second in club history with 46 regular season assists.
• Sporting KC has conceded 999 goals all-time in all competitions.

Team stats (2016 regular season)

MLS rank in parenthesis (source: Opta)

Recent #SKCvRSL meetings (all competitions)

• Regular season record vs. Real Salt Lake: 8-7-5
• Regular season home record vs. Real Salt Lake: 5-1-4 (12 GF, 7 GA)

 2013 MLS Cup
* 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal