Phil Neville is treating the Portland Timbers' Decision-Day derby against the Seattle Sounders as the first test of the postseason, as they gear up for the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Timbers have already secured a wild-card playoff place ahead of their final regular-season match, though they could yet leapfrog the Vancouver Whitecaps to finish eighth in the Western Conference.
After missing the playoffs in back-to-back campaigns, Portland are already focused on enjoying a deep run this term, with Neville seeing Saturday's match as a dress rehearsal.
"We're in the part of the season where you have to earn your money," Neville said. "You have to produce, you have to deliver.
"I'm excited and so are the players, so is everyone at the club. It starts on Saturday with a game against our biggest rivals, we're playing for the Cascadia Cup.
"We know that the highest we can get is eighth and we've got to rely on other results, but we're just going up there with the focus to get the three points and bring the cup home."
The Sounders, meanwhile, enter the final matchday flying high in the West, hoping to fend off Real Salt Lake to retain the third seed.
"The players are feeling good," said head coach Brian Schmetzer ahead of Saturday's game. "Everybody's playing well and everybody's training hard. The guys are ready.
"I think everybody's pitched in. I think it's probably one of the tighter knit groups I've had."
Goalkeeper Stefan Frei added: "There's a lot to play for.
"When you're playing a rival, there's also a trophy on the line as well, so we're excited to host them, and hopefully use it as a good exercise for what's to come."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Seattle Sounders – Albert Rusnak
Rusnak is the first player in the Sounders' MLS history to record 10 goals and 15 assists in a single regular season. Rusnak is one assist away from equalling Seattle's single-season record of 16, set by Nicolas Lodeiro in 2018.
Portland Timbers – Evander
Evander's 32 goal contributions this season equals Diego Valeri's 2017 campaign for the most in a single season in Portland history.
With 15 goals and 17 assists, Evander is one of six players in MLS history to record at least 15 goals and 15 assists in a season, including one of two (also Lionel Messi) this year.
MATCH PREDICTION – SEATTLE SOUNDERS WIN
This will be the first ever meeting between the Sounders and Timbers on the final day of the MLS regular season.
Portland are unbeaten in eight straight visits to Seattle (five wins, three draws) in all competitions, the longest unbeaten run by any club at Seattle in the Sounders' MLS era (since 2009). However, they face a daunting task here.
The Sounders have won 11 of their last 14 regular-season matches (one draw, two losses) including the last three in a row. Seattle's 34 points over their last 14 games are the second-most they have collected over a 14-game span in a single season (36 in July-October 2018).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Seattle Sounders – 49.2%
Portland Timbers – 25.2%
Draw – 25.5%
Arsenal win first WSL match since Eidevall departure
Arsenal left it late but secured a 2-0 victory over West Ham in their first Women's Super League match since Jonas Eidevall resigned.
Interim boss Renee Slegers made it two wins from two in charge thanks to goals from Mariona Caldentey and Rosa Kafaji, despite the Gunners underwhelming for large parts of the game.
They eventually found a breakthrough with 20 minutes to play as Amber Tysiak brought down Stina Blackstenius in the box.
Caldentey neatly tucked away the spot-kick before Blackstenius created their second in the 89th minute as she picked out Kafaji, who finished first-time.
Slegers' first three points sees Arsenal go back to fifth, but West Ham are one of three teams still yet to win in the WSL so far this season as they prop up the table.
Elsewhere, Crystal Palace nearly pulled off another big shock but were instead held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool.
The Eagles impressed at St Helen's Stadium as former Reds striker Katie Stengel opened the scoring after 14 minutes, prodding home from close range.
Cornelia Kapocs pulled the hosts level shortly before half-time, but they had to settle for a share of the points as both sides missed big chances for a winner in the second half.
Leicester City, meanwhile, claimed their first win of the season, edging past struggling Everton 1-0 thanks to Nicole Momiki's superb solo strike after just eight minutes.
It is the first victory for Amandine Miquel since joining the Foxes, while Everton sit 11th in the table, still searching for their first three points of the campaign.
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea: Jones strikes Anfield winner for Slot's Reds
Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League table as Curtis Jones hit the winner in an entertaining 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Anfield.
Having been knocked off the summit by Manchester City's last-gasp victory at Wolves earlier on Sunday, Liverpool responded by passing arguably their sternest test under Arne Slot.
Mohamed Salah's 29th-minute penalty broke the deadlock after Levi Colwill fouled Jones, just moments after the defender had survived an appeal for felling the the Egyptian.
Jones thought he had won a second penalty on the stroke of half-time following a challenge from Robert Sanchez, but a VAR review led referee John Brooks to overturn his initial decision to penalise the goalkeeper.
Another VAR intervention went Chelsea's way as they levelled three minutes into the second half. Nicolas Jackson was ruled offside when latching onto Moises Caicedo's throughball to slot home, but that decision was overturned as replays showed Ibrahima Konate played him on.
However, it was the impressive duo of Salah and Jones that combined for the decisive goal soon afterwards, the latter scoring on the stretch in front of the Kop.
The victory re-establishes Liverpool's one-point lead over City, while they are four clear of their next opponents Arsenal. Chelsea stay sixth, three points off the top four.
Data Debrief: Salah haunts Chelsea again
It is fair to say Salah has enjoyed coming up against Chelsea since returning to the Premier League in 2017, having been let go by the Blues one year earlier.
He has now scored five goals against Chelsea in the Premier League; the joint-most by a player to have previously appeared for them in the competition, along with Kevin De Bruyne (five).
It was his enticing cross that led to Jones' 51st-minute winner, too, and he has both scored and assisted in 34 different matches in the Premier League; the second-most of any player in the competition’s history, only behind Wayne Rooney (36).
Only Pep Guardiola (who won his first 10), meanwhile, has reached 10 wins in all competitions as a Premier League manager in fewer matches than Slot, who has won 10 of his first 11 as Reds boss.
'It did feel like a harsh one' - Wolves boss O'Neil rues Man City late winner
Gary O'Neil felt the awarding of Manchester City's stoppage-time winning goal was "harsh", as Wolves were denied a share of the spoils at Molineux.
The hosts had frustrated the reigning Premier League champions for long periods, and looked like they would claim only a morale-boosting second point of the season.
However, there was to be a dramatic twist in the fifth minute of stoppage time, with John Stones powering home a header from Phil Foden's corner to snatch all three points.
The goal was subjected to a VAR review after the referee's assistant initially raised his flag, with Bernardo Silva in an offside position and in close proximity to Jose Sa.
However, Chris Kavanagh subsequently ruled Silva was not interfering with the Wolves goalkeeper, and O'Neil questioned the inconsistency of such decisions.
"I am trying to remain calm," he said. "I have been involved in a few of those and not had many go in our favour, so I was expecting that outcome.
"There is some grey area that can go either way and, once it was like that, I wasn't confident it would go our way.
"It was similar to a goal [Wolves had disallowed] against West Ham last season. We sent an image to referees showing proof that the West Ham keeper could see the ball, but the reason we were given was the player was in close proximity.
"The same argument could be said here, but we just have to accept it. I would rather not discuss it because it will still sound like I am making excuses. Whatever decision they make, I respect. We don't want to cross that line, but it did feel like a harsh one."
Wolves replaced Southampton at the bottom of the Premier League table, and have now failed to win any of their opening eight league games in a season for the first time in 41 years.
But O'Neil believes his squad can build on the positives they demonstrated against City.
"I am proud of the players," he added. "[It was] an unbelievable effort and we gave ourselves a great chance. I am gutted for the players that we had to leave with nothing.
"The performance was excellent. I thought the lads gave absolutely everything. We kept finding the answers, and we conceded a controversial goal late on. The things that could go against us today definitely did, but we have to take positives.
"It's tough defending for so long, it is so hard to get out. They were working their socks off, they gave everything, they showed what they are, which is all I asked. We need to make sure it looks like that more often.
"It has been such a cruel run of fixtures. We need to keep standing up. We are where we are, and we need to make sure we keep producing the best of ourselves."
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