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We’ve only just settled down since the shenanigans of Orlando City SC’s most recent Major League Soccer fixture at the Citrus Bowl in which stoppage time was a frantic affair yet again.

Baldomero Toledo has been a swear word within the city of Orlando for a week now after the PRO Referee WRONGLY adjudged Servando Carrasco to have handled Lee Nguyen’s cross-shot in basically the final play of the match to hand New England Revolution a penalty that should never have been.

With Nguyen coolly slotting the penalty beyond Joe Bendik, what we all thought were three points quickly disappeared into one but Adrian Heath‘s side need to put the demons of that fixture behind them now.

Embarking on their third road trip of the 2016 MLS season on Sunday evening, our Lions travel to New Jersey to take on New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena.

With last season’s defeated MLS Cup semi-finalists surprisingly struggling at the foot of the Eastern Conference right now on just three points after seven games, Jesse Marsch will be demanding a reaction from his troops but perhaps this is the best time for Orlando City SC to face them.

So without further ado, let us dive into all of the stats that matter heading into Sunday evening’s fixture.

2015 head-to-head stats

With home and away fixtures pencilled into the 2015 MLS itinerary last term, the wins currently stand at one for New York Red Bulls and one for Orlando City SC so far.

Jesse Marsch’s side are actually the last team to have won at the Citrus Bowl back in July 2015 with the Lions unbeaten in an elongated spell ever since.

Travelling down to Central Florida while racking up an impressive 0-2 victory on that occasion, courtesy of a cracker from Sacha Kljestan and a late Mike Grella effort, Red Bulls also scored two more against our Lions in the return fixture at Red Bull Arena in September.

As mentioned, City were dispatched at home pretty convincingly by Red Bulls back in July last year but the wrongs of that evening were more than put right in New Jersey later that September.

With Orlando City SC blasting FIVE goals past Jesse March’s side in the repeat fixture at Red Bull Arena in which the Lions prevailed 2-5 in a scintillating encounter, Adrian Heath‘s side were gaining some positive momentum for a late MLS Cup play-off push.

The 2-5 away win against New York Red Bulls in September last year was truly another watershed moment for Orlando City SC regarding just how big their potential is within Major League Soccer.

Inflicting a 4-0 defeat on LA Galaxy at the Citrus Bowl earlier in the campaign despite some noteworthy withdrawals for Bruce Arena’s side, Adrian Heath‘s Lions have already proved that they can mix it with the most decorated teams in the league so hopefully that transpires again on Sunday.

What we haven’t mentioned as yet is that in that famous 2-5 victory away at New York Red Bulls, our goal machine of a striker Cyle Larin smashed in a hat-trick on that September evening at Red Bull Arena.

Cyle Larin’s hat-trick away at New York Red Bulls last season (September 2015) (Credit: João Costa)

With a Damien Perrinelle own goal and a stoppage time strike from Bryan Róchez adding further gloss to the scoreline, this result should give plenty of belief to our Lions and considering the fact Jesse Marsch’s side are rock bottom in the East right now, it seems an ideal time to face Red Bulls.

New York Red Bulls form

One of the surprises of the 2016 MLS season so far has been the dramatic fall from grace experienced by New York Red Bulls whose only three points of the campaign came back in March against Houston Dynamo in a thrilling 4-3 result at Red Bull Arena.

Losing to all of Toronto FC, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution, Sporting Kansas City, San Jose Earthquakes and Colorado Rapids in their SIX other fixtures, it’s been a season to forget for Jesse Marsch and co so far.

Red Bulls haven’t been only losing MLS fixtures this term but they’ve been losing them badly as well with Jesse Marsch’s side having conceded AT LEAST TWO GOALS in SIX of their last SEVEN fixtures.

With Cyle Larin ready to play 90 minutes against New York Red Bulls on Sunday evening after a cameo against New England Revolution last time out, this could spell trouble for the hosts with the Canadian international already boasting THREE goals to his name so far this season.

Orlando City SC form

Thinking back to how Orlando City SC’s last THREE Major League Soccer fixtures have panned out, we’ve witnessed OVER 2.5 GOALS in all of them!

Firstly smashing 2015 MLS Cup champions Portland Timbers at the Citrus Bowl 4-1 on April 4th, this was followed up by that crushing late loss away at Philadelphia Union 2-1 before playing out the infamous 2-2 with New England Revolution last time out.