FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Gillette Stadium has long been one of the more difficult venues for road teams in Major League Soccer, and, subsequently, the New England Revolution have long been one of the league’s best home teams.

Even in lean years the Revs have been solid at home. Take, for instance, the 2017 campaign in which the Revolution missed out on the playoffs despite compiling a record of 12-2-3 in Foxborough, the third-best home mark in MLS that year and a club record for home wins in a season.

That form took a slight dip in 2018, however, as the Revs went 8-4-5 at Gillette Stadium, their lowest win total at home since 2013. That’s a record the Revs know they’ll need to improve upon this season as they prepare to kick off their home slate on Saturday afternoon against Columbus Crew SC (2 p.m., TICKETS).

“We need to win a lot more games at home,” said Antonio Delamea. “And we need to start this Saturday.”

Home form is often king in MLS. In a league where the vast majority of teams struggle to varying degrees on the road, it’s imperative to maximize points at home. In fact, 10 of the 12 playoff teams last year had 10 or more home wins, while five of those clubs had four or fewer wins on the road.

As such, New England will lean on their home form as they aim for a return to the postseason in 2019, beginning on Saturday when they’ll aim to stretch their unbeaten run in home openers (8-0-4) to 13.

Not that the players are too focused on anything other than winning, one game at a time.

“We don’t really look at those types of statistics,” Scott Caldwell said of the Revs’ unbeaten run in home openers. “We’re always looking to win every game at home and on the road, so we’ll continue that this year. Really, it’s just about this result. This result is what matters, and that’s getting three points.

“We’re just excited, again, like we are every year, to play in front of the supporters, and I can’t wait until this weekend.”