The Supporters’ Shield leaders FC Cincinnati are in action this midweek having had the weekend off and they host a Toronto FC side who might be sitting ducks when you consider how much the Canada national team have decimated them.

A number of Toronto players will be on Gold Cup duty including goalkeeper Sean Johnson, his deputy Tomas Romero, defender Richie Laryea and midfielder Jonathan Osorio. Michael Bradley, Victor Vazquez and Adama Diomande were already out injured so it will be a largely second string side heading into this one.

FC Cincinnati will be missing Brandon Vazquez up front but in Luciano Acosta they have a genuine MVP contender this season and he is more than capable of pulling the strings for the Eastern Conference leaders. Cincinnati are perfect at home this season having won all nine home games in MLS and I think they are well placed to make it 10 from 10.

Up in Canada there is an interesting battle between a CF Montreal side who are very good at home and Nashville SC who are one of the better teams in MLS full stop let alone in the Eastern Conference where they are currently second in the table.

Nashville are being carried by the MVP from last term Hany Mukhtar, who heads to Canada off the back of a hat trick against St Louis City at the weekend but the team in yellow come up against a formidable home force in Montreal, who have won six of their seven home matches.

These two have largely avoided significant international call ups although Jacob Shaffelburg is a key one for Nashville, but they don’t lack for attacking options and have the best player in the league in forward areas. Montreal miss a couple of defenders for the next few weeks as they are on Gold Cup duty.

I like goals here. Nashville have only kept one clean sheet in 11 matches and five of their last six have had more than 2.5 goals. Five of the last six Montreal games have gone over and the trend can continue here.

The final Eastern Conference game we will look at is one where two recent MLS Cup champions meet at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, when Atlanta United host New York City FC with the home side one of those most hurt by international call ups.

If losing the likes of Derrick Etienne Jr and Miles Robinson to the Gold Cup wasn’t bad enough, the likes of Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis are away with their countries as well so Atlanta are without the spine of their side.

They will need the support cast to step up and be counted but in the likes of Caleb Wiley, Luiz Araujo and Miguel Berry they certainly still have the quality to do that and the one thing we know about Atlanta is they will continue to pour forward at home.

The loss of Robinson opens a hole in the Atlanta defence and the New York City front line can take advantage of that, whether it is on the counter from a turnover or some possession play through their multitude of false nines.

Atlanta know the importance of home matches while New York City’s form has been so bad recently that every game has plenty of meaning for them. I expect both teams to score against vulnerable defences here.

We move to the Western Conference for the remainder of the bets on Thursday beginning in Texas where the Houston Dynamo will go up against the San Jose Earthquakes as two top six teams battle it out.

While both of these sides are in the top six, much of their success comes at home. 19 of the 24 points the Dynamo have picked up this term have come on home soil while of the 27 points the Earthquakes have accrued, 21 of them came at home.

That plays massively in the Houston hands here but San Jose have lost a number of players to the Gold Cup including attacking Cade Cowell while midfield enforcer Jamiro Monteiro has been away in Africa and might need to miss this game to recover.

Houston have largely been untouched with the exception of Adalberto Carrasquilla but they were without him last week and still won away to Los Angeles FC. Houston is a tough place to go and I don’t think San Jose will pick anything up on their visit.

Two more Western Conference sides go at it at CityPark when St Louis City SC host a Real Salt Lake team who they have already battered 4-0 at the beginning of the season in the reverse meeting.

RSL have come a long way since then and are not far away from having Cristian Arango on board but even without a host of internationals for this one, they still have the likes of Pablo Ruiz who notched from the halfway line in DC at the weekend, as well as Damir Kreilach who knows where the net is.

I’ve mentioned a few times that you rarely get a dull St Louis City game and we saw more evidence of that in Nashville at the weekend. I don’t trust Real Salt Lake at the back, and they duly conceded to 10 men in Washington at the weekend.

St Louis are missing key men but there is still an attacking verve about them. This is a match both teams will think they can win and as a result of that over 2.5 goals looks a natural outcome.

Two of the more famous names in MLS meet in California in the early hours of Thursday morning when LA Galaxy play host to Sporting Kansas City in what is actually a vital Western Conference clash for both teams.

This season hasn’t really taken off for LA Galaxy but they have picked up four points from their last two matches with a win in Salt Lake and a draw in St Louis which I’m not sure they deserved but credit to them for getting it.

Sporting Kansas City saw a lengthy unbeaten run come to an end on Saturday when Los Angeles FC came from behind to stun them and they’ll be looking to get back on the horse against a team missing one of its promising defenders in Jalen Neal while Eriq Zavaleta is at the Gold Cup too.

SKC have dodged international bullets but their first choice keeper Tim Melia remains out injured while defenders Kortne Ford and Graham Zusi are out and Andreu Fontas is questionable.

LA Galaxy don’t have either of their main forwards but Douglas Costa looked lively in St Louis and Tyler Boyd is ready to step up to the plate with Riqui Puig in behind. These defences can’t be trusted as highlighted by both conceding 27 goals this term already, so this looks an obvious over 2.5 goals candidate.