ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando City SC is trying to avoid a slump that started around this time last season, as they host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Last season, the Lions started their 2017 campaign 6-1-0 before winning only four games the rest of the year. Similarly, City (6-4-1, 19 points) have also earned six wins ahead of their match with Chicago (3-6-2, 11 points) but have lost their last two games by a score of 2-1 to both Atlanta United FC and Toronto FC.

Chicago and City have played closely in most of their seven matches, as the Lions lead the overall series with a 2-1-4 record. However, Orlando City’s two wins were both earned in 2015, and the two teams’ most recent meeting ended in a 4-0, shutout victory for Chicago.

Here’s what to expect from the Fire when they travel to face Orlando City on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Stars Nemanja Nikolić, Bastian Schweinsteiger Lead Fire Attack

Chicago’s most potent weapons are two of its biggest names: forward Nemanja Nikolić and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Nikolić won last season’s Golden Boot award with 24 goals and also added four assists. So far this season, he leads the Fire with six goals and has an assist, too, while playing in all 11 of their games.

“Yeah, Nikolić, obviously, Golden Boot winner last year, so you gotta be careful with him,” City keeper Joe Bendik said after training on May 22.

Schweinsteiger was an important player for Bundesliga side FC Bayern Munich, playing there for 13 seasons before moving to Manchester United FC. In total, he recorded 70 goals and 103 assists in his 15-season club career overseas.

So far this season, he’s recorded a goal and leads the Fire in assists (four) in nine appearances, nine starts.

“For Schweinsteiger, he plays in, you know, these different pockets, so we’ve just got keep communication going to find where he is,” Bendik said.

Chicago Struggling Entering City Match

The Fire come to Central Florida a little worse for wear. Their eighth-place standing in the early-season going is uncharacteristic of a side that finished third in the Eastern Conference with the league’s third-most goals (61).

Like Orlando City, Chicago has lost its last two games; in fact, it’s worse than that. The Fire have lost three of their last four games but did pick up a 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact on May 9.

The other decisions fared oppositely. Atlanta beat Chicago 2-1 at home (what a coincidence…) on May 5. After the Montreal win, Chicago lost to Columbus Crew SC 3-0 on the road on May 12. The Fire, then, went home for one game and lost 3-2 to the Houston Dynamo on May 20.

Central Florida is the first of two road stops, now, for Chicago. After Saturday night’s game, the Fire will travel to play the Philadelphia Union.

For City head coach Jason Kreis, he predicts the Fire will play with an urgency similar to the Lions’ because the two teams are in such similar situations.

“[We] go into this game, and we say this is an opponent feeling exactly like we are, right now,” Kreis said after training on May 22. “They’re gonna have some real urgency about their situation. They lost the last two in a row, and so I know that they’ve, you know, had some rumblings about disappointments in the locker room and disappointments [with] performances.

“So we expect an emotional team to come at us on Saturday.”

Fire Contending for Result in Most Games

Despite the Fire’s cool start to the season, it appears they are on the brink of breaking into the top ranks of the Eastern Conference table. Of the Fire’s 11 matches played, they have had eight decided by one goal; of those eight games, Chicago has won only three.

Chicago’s non-one-goal results are a 2-2 draw with the Portland Timbers on March 31, a 2-2 draw with Toronto FC on April 28 and the loss to Columbus.

“[The approach is the] same as always. I think we focus on ourselves,” midfielder Will Johnson said after training on May 22. “Gotta got cut out a few little mistakes, being over-aggressive and giving up chances every game in this league is difficult. Points are hard to come by, so we gotta be good…

“And, you know, when games are won and lost in the box, we’ve gotta be a little more clinical in the opponent’s [18-yard] box, and, when they come into our box, we’ve gotta make sure that we do whatever it takes to stop goal-scoring chances and the ball getting to Joe.”

For more on the Lions, as they prepare to end their two-game losing strike while try to extend another, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com or simply tweet at him.