Eloi Amagat is the headline name in Domènec Torrent's Hudson River Derby XI.
The new summer signing will make his NYCFC debut in one of the biggest games of the season so far, as City look to move within a point of the MLS summit.
Amagat is joined in midfield by Alex Ring and Ebenezer Ofori, while Maxi Moralez and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi will be charged with loading the bullets for captain David Villa who lines up against Red Bulls on home turf for the first time since his hat-trick in the BX in 2017.
Anton Tinnerholm and Ben Sweat line up at full-back on either side of Sebastian Ibeagha and Maxime Chanot at the back, ahead of Sean Johnson in the NYCFC goal.
On the bench, there's plenty of firepower in the shape of Jo Inge Berget, Jonathan Lewis and Rodney Wallace for this 7pm kick-off which will be live on FS1 and NYCFC.com/Radio.
NYCFC XI: Johnson, Tinnerholm, Chanot, Ibeagha, Sweat, Ofori, Ring, Amagat, Tajouri-Shradi, Moralez, Villa (C)
Substitutes: Stuver, Awuah, McNamara, Lewis, Berget, Bedoya, Wallace
Key Stats
New York City FC has won three of the last five Hudson River Derbies (1L-1D). They had won once in the first six league meetings between the rivals (5L).
New York City FC has won just one of their last four MLS games (2L-1D), conceding multiple goals in four straight games for the first time since 2016. Their 2-0 loss last weekend snapped a streak of 14 straight MLS games with a goal.
The Red Bulls are averaging 1.7 points per road game in league play this year. Entering this season, only four MLS clubs had averaged 1.7+ points per game on the road in a season since 2010.
Jesús Medina has missed just 480+ minutes of MLS play this season, in which NYCFC averages 1.1 goals per 90. In the 1,934+ minutes Medina has played, the club averages 2.0 goals per 90.
Kaku has not tallied an assist in his last three appearances for the Red Bulls, his longest streak without one this season.
Tyler Adam’s assists last weekend were his fifth in his last 10 league appearances. Before that, he had six in his first 37 MLS games. It was Adam’s second time with multiple assists in a single game.
Both NYCFC and RBNY received a red card this weekend, and each was their second of the 2018 season. Only two teams in MLS have received less than two red cards this season.
Alexander Callens has played the most minutes of any player in the league since the start of the 2017 season (excluding playoffs). This will be the first regular season game that he has not played in for NYCFC since the start of 2017.
The Red Bulls have scored 11 headed goals this year, tied for the most in MLS.
Alexander Ring has 175 tackles since the start of the 2017 season (excluding playoffs), the second most of any player in the league.
