B.J. Callaghan believes preparation has been key to Nashville SC's eight-game unbeaten run, which they will defend against the Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field on Wednesday.

Nashville's 7-2 rout of the Chicago Fire on April 26 kickstarted a run of six wins and two draws in eight games, helping them climb to third in the Eastern Conference.

They are just three points adrift of the pacesetters, the Philadelphia Union, and are above Wilfried Nancy's Columbus side on goal difference.

Nashville won 2-1 at Toronto FC on Saturday, and Callaghan believes they displayed the battling qualities required to earn points on the road in MLS.

Callaghan said: "I'm really proud of the group's performance. I wouldn't say it was our best soccer or our best ability to execute against Toronto, but we competed really well.

"It's a road game in MLS, so we had to suffer a little bit, but this is a group that responds to that and really bonds together.

"Going on the road in MLS is difficult, winning on the road is even more difficult, so we're just proud."

Asked about Nashville's chances of remaining unbeaten throughout the month of May, Callaghan added: "I don't think we think about stuff like that, in terms of our expectations.

"We knew May was going to be a big, congested month. We tried to get ahead of it with some of our planning, looking at how we were going to approach these games.

"Then we just try to stay focused on what our opponents are going to do and how we want to attack each and every game. 

"We're just going to keep ticking over, sticking to the way we prepare. We'll recover and then start our preparations for Columbus."

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Columbus Crew – Daniel Gazdag 

Gazdag has scored six goals in eight career regular-season meetings with Nashville, his most against any opponent. 

Those six goals are also the most any player has scored against Nashville in regular-season play.

Nashville SC – Sam Surridge 

Surridge scored one of Nashville's two goals in their win over Toronto. 

Surridge has eight goal contributions (six goals, two assists) since matchday 10 (April 26), more than any other player in MLS and one ahead of four players including Hany Mukhtar (four goals, three assists).

MATCH PREDICTION – COLUMBUS CREW

Nashville have won four of their last six regular-season matches (D2), including a 2-1 victory at Toronto on Saturday. 

They have not won consecutive road games in league play in two years, since earning victories at D.C. United and Charlotte FC in May and June 2023.

However, Columbus have lost only two of their nine all-time meetings with Nashville (W4 D3, including playoffs). The Crew are also unbeaten in three straight against Nashville (W2 D1).

They will be targeting another victory here, having only lost one of their nine home matches in all competitions (W5 D3) this year. 

The Crew have scored multiple goals in all five wins but failed to score more than once in any of the other four matches in that run. 

Columbus lost 3-2 at Charlotte FC last time out, but back on home soil, they will be confident of bouncing back.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Columbus Crew – 62.4%

Nashville SC – 17.7%

Draw – 19.9%