New York City and Atlanta United are back for the first round of the MLS Eastern Conference post season and are set to lock horns this weekend at Yankee Stadium. These two sides finished the regular season with a fourth place hence they have a point to prove on 21st November 2021 at 23:00 EAT.
New York City FC prepares for this home fixture following 1-1 MLS stalemate versus Philadelphia Union. In that game, they had 45% possession, 10 shots with three of them on target a goal scored by Castellanos (53′). Philadelphia Union got 11 shots with four on target and a goal by Przybyłko (26′).
Atlanta United on the other hand heads into this game looking for similar results as the 1-2 MLS win against Cincinnati in their last match. In that match, they had 61% possession, 18 shots with four of them on target and goals scored by Robinson (70′) and Martínez (79′). FC Cincinnati got nine shots on goal with three of them on target and a goal by Bailey (21′).
The pigeons have three wins and two draws out of the last five matches, while Atlanta United has three draws and two wins. New York City also managed to beat Atlanta United in two of the last three games they played since 2019.
Atlanta United spent a huge amount of money to create a strong squad which did not bring them the immediate regular-season glory however it was good enough to secure them a place in the playoffs. Therefore, we shouldn’t underestimate Gonzalo Pineda’s men here even though they will certainly have a very tough challenge trying to eliminate New York City.
New York City vs Atlanta United head to head
These two sides have 10 matches against each other in which Atlanta has four wins, New York three wins and three matches ended with shared spoils.
- Atlanta 1-1 New York City 21/10/21
- New York City 1-0 Atlanta 24/06/21
- New York City 4-1 Atlanta 26/09/19
- Atlanta 2-1 New York City 11/08/19
- Atlanta 3-1 New York City 12/11/18
Home
- New York City 1-1 Philadelphia
- Miami 1-3 New York City
- New York City 1-0 Chicago
- New York City 6-0 DC United
- Atlanta 1-1 New York City
Away
- Cincinnati 1-2 Atlanta
- New York 0-0 Atlanta
- Atlanta 1-1 Toronto
- Atlanta 2-1 Miami
- Atlanta 1-1 New York City
New York City FC team news
Gedion Zelalem was sent off while playing against Philly, Anton Tinnerholm, Achilles and Keaton Parks are out with injuries. Nicolas Acevedo, Ismael Tajouri-Shradi and Gudmundur Thorarinsson are all questionable with lower-body injuries.
Atlanta United team news
For the visitors, Emerson Hyndman is injured and is not expected to play in this game, while Santiago Sosa is in doubts with a lower-body injury.
Prediction and odds
We expect fierce duels that could end either ways for these rivals.
- Draw
- Double Chance
- Both teams to score
