New York City Football Club are back in action on Saturday with a trip to Charlotte FC.
Here are the Keys to the Match, presented by Ford...
Team News
If the squad are to come away from North Carolina with a positive result, they will have to do so without Thiago Martins, Maxime Chanot and Nico Acevedo.
The trio are all suspended, following Wednesday night’s visit of FC Cincinnati, courtesy of Martins’ red card and yellow card accumulation for Chanot and Acevedo.
Interim Head Coach Nick Cushing was hopeful Anton Tinnerholm could return for the weekend, which would certainly be a timely boost, and will confirm his availability in Friday’s press conference.
Premier League title winner Christian Fuchs is set to line up for Charlotte, while NYCFC will have to be wary of Karol Swiderski with the Polish Forward having found the net eight times this season, including against City in August. Benjamin Bender tops their assists chart with six.
Previous Meeting
The two sides have locked horns on just one occasion with Charlotte running out 3-1 victors last month.
Swiderski and Fuchs were on the scoresheet at Red Bull Arena, as the Crown broke the deadlock after just four minutes and netted twice late on to render Chanot’s wondergoal equalizer a mere consolation.
Both sides are looking to return to winning ways with the North Carolina outfit falling to defeat in their last three, scoring just once since our last meeting and shipping seven.
Christian Lattanzio’s side are also winless in their last three home games, having lost just three of their first 11 in MLS.
Control the Game
Remarkably, both New York and Charlotte are winless in their last two games despite each controlling the majority of possession and registering an astonishing 72 shots between them.
Both facing Cincinnati last time out, City recorded 65.3% of the ball and Charlotte 63.7% but neither side could reward their dominance with goals.
It was the same story in their previous fixtures (64.4% v New England Revolution, and 58.5% for v Toronto) and the pair have no trouble creating chances - City have crafted 39 shots on goal, while Charlotte struck 33...
The problem for both sides has been shot conversion, while their opponents have ultimately proven more clinical at the other end.
As two ball-playing teams go head-to-head, who will make their pressure count...?
