Info to know: Atlanta United vs. New England

Atlanta United will play host to New England at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be televised by Apple TV. You can follow Doug Roberson’s coverage on X (formerly known as Twitter) @DougRobersonAJC.

ExploreMore AJC coverage of Atlanta United

New England manager: Caleb Porter

New England away record: 0-1-0

Atlanta United home record: 0-0-0

New England goals for/against: 1/4

New England expected goals for/against: 2.6/5.2

Atlanta United goals for/against: 0/1

Atlanta United expected goals for/against in 2023 regular season: 0.5/1.8

Atlanta United all-time vs New England: 5-4-4, 4-1-2 at home

New England key players

Carles Gil: 1 goal

Tomas Chancalay: 10 shots, two on target

Atlanta United key players

Thiago Almada: Three shots, one on target

Giorgos Giakoumakis: Three shots, one on target

Storylines to watch

1. Getting the first goal. It took Atlanta United into the opening minutes of the second half against Columbus to show a semblance of a cohesive offense. With the loss, Atlanta United’s record when the opponent scores first fell to 9-59-22. When Atlanta United scores first, it is 87-15-24.

2. Stopping Gil. The midfielder has tormented Atlanta United with three goals and four assists in eight matches. Caleb Wiley said the best way to try to neutralize him is to prevent him from getting on the ball, which he quickly acknowledges is easier to say than do. “We have the players to stop him. It’s about us doing that,” Wiley said.

Injury reports

Atlanta United

None reported

New England

None reported

What was said

“Even though we lost, I think it was still a step in the right direction. And it was the first game. Now, we didn’t get to have the outcome that we wanted. But there was parts in the game that we thought were promising. We’ll come to the training, and we’re working on those things.” – Wiley

“I hope Saturday will be a great event in front of our fans. I heard a lot of great things about the first game here. I hope there will be a lot of people. And they will help us to win first game of the season.” – Bartosz Slisz

“I think we have a really good culture in the locker room right now. And yeah, we’re excited for this year. And we’re really, really stoked for Saturday night. I think it’s going to be fun for a lot of the new guys to play in front of however many people, 60-70,000 people. Yeah, it just is the best atmosphere to play in front of.” – Brooks Lennon

“I will say our mindset is not now to be conservative; our mindset needs to be more aggressive.” – Gonzalo Pineda

Atlanta United’s predicted 11

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan

Centerback Derrick Williams

Centerback Stian Gregersen

Right fullback Brooks Lennon

Left fullback Caleb Wiley

Defensive midfielder Bartosz Slisz

Midfielder Tristan Muyumba

Attacking midfielder Thiago Almada

Winger Saba Lobjanidze

Winger Xande Silva