Daniel Gazdag made the blockbuster switch from Philadelphia Union to Columbus Crew, and is ready to make an impact for his new side against St. Louis City SC in MLS on Sunday.

The midfielder is under contract through 2025, with the option for 2026, with the Crew seeing it as a "no-brainer" to add him to their ranks when they found out he was available.

The Crew have made a strong start to the season, going unbeaten across their seven matches so far (W4 D3) to sit top of the Eastern Conference on 15 points.

Gazdag left Philadelphia as their all-time leading goalscorer (72 goals in all competitions), and he has big hopes about what he can do with the Crew.

"It's a very successful franchise, especially since I've been in the league the last four years," said Gazdag. "They've won so many major titles.

"So, it makes me proud to join a club like the Columbus Crew, and it makes me very happy that I'm playing for a club that's actually playing for winning titles every year."

While it is not yet clear if he will start in St. Louis, Gazdag is raring to go: "I know I will be available."

St. Louis, meanwhile, have struggled in recent weeks. After making an unbeaten start to the season by winning two and drawing two of their first four games, they have since lost their last four on the bounce.

They have also failed to score in their last three outings, leaving them 11th in the Western Conference, though they could drop down depending on Saturday's results.

Despite their recent dip, Marcel Hartel, who had drawn interest from Columbus before joining St. Louis, believes the team will benefit from Olof Mellberg's focus on defensive stability as the season goes on.

"I think we had a lot of focus at first on our defense, defense line to [not] concede that many goals, because in the last season, if you see how many goals, you can see it was way too much," said Hartel.

"But now we have to start to change, because now we see our defense works, and now we have to go a bit for our offense line, because you can see we only shot four goals.

"We are not creating that much chances, but we will get used to it – and we train it every day."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

St. Louis City SC – Conrad Wallem

St. Louis City's 2-0 loss on Saturday was the fifth time the club has failed to score in their first seven games this season (scored four goals overall).

It was not for lack of trying, though, with Conrad Wallem the main enforcer. He had three attempts in that defeat, with two of those hitting the target. He was also responsible for 0.47 of St. Louis' 1.1 expected goals (xG).

Columbus Crew – Jacen Russell-Rowe

Jacen Russell-Rowe had a goal and an assist in the Crew's victory over CF Montreal last Saturday.

It marked the 52nd time since Wilfried Nancy became Crew head coach in 2023 that a Crew player recorded multiple goal contributions in a match, more than any other MLS team in that time.

MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN

The only previous meeting between St. Louis City and Columbus was a 2-1 win for the Crew in St. Louis in the group stage of the 2023 Leagues Cup.

Columbus have opened a season unbeaten in seven straight matches for the second time in club history (first eight in 2010). The Crew are unbeaten in eight straight regular-season away matches (W5 D3) dating back to last August.

Meanwhile, after opening the season unbeaten in four (W2 D2), St. Louis have lost three in a row. This is their third three-match regular-season losing streak, though they have never dropped four league games in a row before.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

St. Louis City SC – 27.2%

Draw – 23.9%

Columbus Crew – 48.9%