New York City FC will welcome Atlanta United to Citi Field on Saturday night in the hopes of avoiding the bottom of the Eastern Conference should they drop more points. This season has started off poorly for the Pigeons as they’ve only garnered one win in their first six games. Conversely, Atlanta United is coming in off of a strong 3-0 win over Chicago Fire at Mercedes Benz Stadium last week.
NYC’s biggest issue still revolves around their inability to score goals. Recent weeks have seen the team create high-percentage chances but were unable to convert in key moments. Santiago Rodriguez in particular missed opportunities in recent weeks where they could have taken points off of Cincinnati and Miami on the road. The lack of a main striker has also been an issue. Talles Magno continues to recover from injury, while Mounsef Bakrar hasn’t been as clinical as one would have expected. Combine this with younger players like Julian Fernandez and Alonso Martinez still growing into the league, and it leaves City trying to manage the table while also giving players enough time to grow into their positions.
Defensively, City have been potent in keeping teams to few chances. The last three games have seen the team only surrender one goal in each fixture. Atlanta will be without one of their key weapons as Giorgos Giakoumakis is out with a knee injury.
Atlanta is coming in on good form with three wins in their last four games. They are still relatively unproven as all of their wins have come against teams below the playoff line. City are no exception but may prove to be a bit more difficult considering the fine margin of their losses. A win for the visitors may put them into position of claiming to be one of the better clubs in the Conference. A loss for City could see them fall to the basement of the East should New England find a way to get a result.
PROJECTED STARTING XI:
NYCFC: Freese; Gray, Martins, Risa, O’Toole, Parks, Sands, Wolf, Rodriguez, Bakrar, Fernandez
AVAILABILITY:
Maxi Moralez (out with knee injury)
Talles Magno (out with knee injury)
Jovan Mijatovic (out for non-injury reason)
