Head Coach Patrick Vieira has made two changes to the lineup which started Wednesday night’s victory over Real Salt Lake.
Ben Sweat returns to the XI in place of Ronald Mararrita and Alex Ring is back for Ebenezer Ofori in New York’s Sunday night showdown with Atlanta United.
READ:Major Keys to New York City FC at Atlanta United FC
That means Jo Inge Berget retains his place in the side following his first City goal on his first home appearance in midweek as part of a front three alongside fellow goalscorer Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, and Jesus Medina.
Maxi Moralez will spin the webs in behind that front three ahead of Ring and Yangel Herrera, reuniting the trio for the first time since NYC’s win over Orlando on March 17.
At the back, Anton Tinnerholm retains his place at right-back following his excellent start to life in sky blue, with Alexander Callens, Maxime Chanot and Sweat to the left of him ahead of Sean Johnson in goal.
It’s a strong City bench too, with Ronald Matarrita, David Villa and Rodney Wallace all available should Vieira need them through the course of the 90’.
Kick-off is at 6pm and the game will be broadcasted live on FS1, while radio commentary is available on WNYE 91.5 FM (English) and WADO 1280 AM (Spanish).
Come on City!
WATCH: On the Line – New York City FC at Atlanta United FC
NYCFC XI: Johnson, Tinnerholm, Callens, Chanot, Sweat, Ring, Herrera, Moralez, Tajouri-Shradi, Berget, Medina
SUBS: Stuver, Hountondji, Matarrita, Ofori, McNamara, Wallace, Villa
Match Stats
- Atlanta and NYCFC each won their home game against each other by a score of 3-1 last season.
- Atlanta’s 5-0 win over LAFC last weekend was the eighth time they have scored 4+ goals in a match since joining MLS, the second-most by any team.
- NYCFC has lost just one of their last nine road games. They have allowed multiple goals away from home just once over this span.
- Atlanta enters this weekend tied for the league lead in set piece goals with five. Three teams have yet to score five goals this season (Seattle, Toronto and Philadelphia).
- NYCFC has scored seven goals in the fifteen minutes on either side of halftime. No other team has more than four goals in that 30-minute span.
- Atlanta was outshot 17-11 by LAFC, but still won 5-0. This was the third time since the start of the 2010 season that a team has won a game by 5+ goals with a shot differential of -6 or worse.
- NYCFC saw four different goalscorers on Wednesday night. This is just the fourth time in franchise regular season history where City have had four different players score in the same game.
- Maxi Morález finished Wednesday’s victory with a goal, an assist and eight chances created, becoming the fourth player with at least 1G, 1A and 8+ chances created in a MLS match since 2010.
- Miguel Almirón had two penalty goals and an assist against LAFC last weekend. This was just the fifth time a player has had two penalty goals and an assist in the same regular season game since the start of the 2010 season.
- In 370 minutes without David Villa on the pitch this year, NYCFC are averaging 2.2 goals for and 0.7 goals against per 90 minutes. In 1,345 minutes without David Villa on the field over the course of the first three seasons in franchise history, City averaged 1.3 goals for and 1.0 goals against per 90 minutes played.
