Info to know: Atlanta United vs. Charlotte

Atlanta United (5-3-3) will host Charlotte (3-5-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be broadcast on the MLS channel on AppleTV. You can sync the radio broadcast from 92.9 FM through the app.

You can follow the coverage of Doug Roberson, who has covered the franchise since 2014, on Twitter @DougRobersonAJC.

Here is a scouting report for the game:

Charlotte manager: Christian Lattanzio

Charlotte on road: 1-3-1

Atlanta United at home: 4-0-1

Charlotte goals for/against: 13/21

Charlotte expected goals for/against: 10.8/17.5

Atlanta United goals for/against: 20/18

Atlanta United expected goals for/against: 14.3/13.5

Charlotte key players

Enzo Copetti: Four goals (but can’t play because of yellow-card accumulation)

Karol Zwiderski: Two goals, two assists

Kerwin Vargas: Two goals, one assist

Atlanta United key players

Thiago Almada: Five goals, six assists

Caleb Wiley: Three goals, two assists

Brooks Lennon: One goal, four assists

Talking points

1. Who will start at striker? Giorgos Giakoumakis has resumed training, but likely won’t start because the club doesn’t want to unnecessarily rush players back from injuries, particularly when it has three games scheduled in eight days and may need him to come off the bench in all three. Machop Chol has started the past two games. He has one shot. Manager Gonzalo Pineda likes to maintain consistent lineups, so Chol may get a third chance to show he can produce.

2. Will Atlanta United’s wingers produce? This has been a key for the past few games and will remain so until one of them has a breakout performance. Luiz Araujo has no goals and one assist in his past seven MLS games. Derrick Etienne Jr. doesn’t have a goal or assist in his past six league matches.

3. Playing with energy. The team has looked lethargic for most of the past four games. One game was at home, one was at a neutral site and the past two were on the road. The next two games are at home. Four of the next seven are at home.

Injury reports

Atlanta United

Out: Erik Lopez (ankle), Brad Guzan (MCL) and Ozzie Alonso (ACL recovery)

Questionable: Giakoumakis (hamstring)

Charlotte

Out: Guzman Corujo (right knee surgery), George Marks (left lower leg injury), Copetti (yellow-card accumulation) and Derrick Jones (yellow-card accumulation).

Questionable: Vargas (left lower leg injury), Joseph Mora (left knee injury) and Bill Tuiloma (right thigh injury).

What was said

“I think we’re going through a little bit of a bad moment. But we had a good start. We’ve won our first four or five games, and we know that just because we won those four or five games, it doesn’t mean we’re the best. And now because we’ve lost a few games in a row, it doesn’t mean we’re the worst. So we’ve got a really important game on Saturday and try and get back to that.” – Almada

“I think in MLS, the momentum is pretty important, right? Getting some momentum, when you have congested periods of time with a lot of games, it can dictate many things because it’s nine points on the line. So that momentum, getting that momentum in that part, I think it’s very important.” – Pineda on the next three matches

“Having two home games is very important. Everybody fears coming to the Benz. So having that kind of support from our fans ... and we know going in there that we’re on the front foot from the first minute. And we’re definitely going to make a statement for this past week. So we need three points.” – Amar Sejdic

Officiating crew

Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Assistants: Meghan Mullen and Ryan Graves

Fourth official: Marcos DeOliveira

VAR: Geoff Gamble

AVAR: Kaili Terry

Atlanta United’s predicted 11

Goalkeeper Quentin Westberg

Centerback Miles Robinson

Centerback JuanJo Purata

Right fullback Brooks Lennon

Left fullback Andrew Gutman

Defensive midfielder Franco Ibarra

Midfielder Amar Sejdic

Attacking midfielder Thiago Almada

Right wing Luiz Araujo

Left wing Derrick Etienne Jr.

Striker Miguel Berry

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1