Atlanta United (3-2-1) will host Philadelphia (3-0-3) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be televised for free on AppleTV and on Fox. You can follow Doug Roberson’s coverage on X (formerly known as Twitter) @DougRobersonAJC.
Philadelphia manager: Jim Curtin
Atlanta United home record: 3-0-0
Philadelphia away record: 2-0-2
Philadelphia goals for/against: 12/7
Philadelphia expected goals for/against: 10.9/7.6
Atlanta United goals for/against: 10/5
Atlanta United expected goals for/against: 9.5/8.5
Atlanta United all-time vs Philadelphia: 5-4-5, 4-1-3 home
Philadelphia key players
Daniel Gazdag: Four goals, one assist
Julian Carranza: Four goals
Mikael Uhre: Two goals, one assist
Atlanta United key players
Giorgos Giakoumakis: Four goals
Saba Lobjanidze: One goal, three assists
Brooks Lennon: Three assists
Injury reports
Atlanta United
Out: Stian Gregersen (knee), Xande Silva (adductor), Jamal Thiare (hamstring), Derrick Williams (calf) and Giakoumakis (knee).
Philadelphia
None reported.
Storylines to watch
1. Who is left up top? Atlanta United will be without five starters: Giakoumakis, who leads the team with five goals, centerbacks Gregersen and Williams and winger Silva, as well as backup striker Thiare, who is second with three goals. Daniel Rios is the last healthy striker. He has missed the past two games because of an injury.
2. Getting a good start. The team will play four of its next five matches at home. Getting a positive result against Philadelphia would build momentum for the next games and help the club to try to accomplish its goal of getting into the top four and challenging for the Supporters Shield.
3. Getting Thiago Almada going. Almada, an MVP finalist last season after scoring 11 goals and leading the league with 19 assists, doesn’t have a goal or an assist in his past three matches, tying for the second-longest drought in his MLS career in regular-season games. He has scored only one goal this season and has no assists. Almada’s non-penalty expected goals last season was 7.2, according to fbref.com, so some of his lack of scoring this season can be attributed to mathematical regression. But with Giakoumakis, Thiare and Silva out, Almada finding some of last season’s luck would benefit the club.
What was said
“You never want anybody to be injured. Everyone realizes when someone gets hurt, it’s never good. The mood can always kind of start to go down. But I think we have good depth. And I think we have good pieces. With Stian’s injury, I had to step in. So it’s the same situation for other guys. And I think it’s just like an next-man-up mentality. And then when the group gets to full strength, the better the depth pieces are, the better ultimately, the entire group is I think.” – Noah Cobb
“I think we’re going to try and take as many points as we can because we’ve shown that we’re really strong at home. And we showed that last season.” – Edwin Mosquera on playing four of next five at home
“I think they’re (Philadelphia) a very direct team at times. They’ve got some bigger guys, physical guys that like to compete in the air. So I think it comes down to just winning your duels and one-on-one duels making sure that we stay compact and make sure that we keep the ball out of the net, which is the most important thing.” – Lennon
“If we allow them to control the type of game we’re playing, I think they can hurt us, for sure. So for me, it is very important that we control the type of game we want to play against them. If we do that, I think we’re going to be in a good spot.” – Gonzalo Pineda
Officiating crew
REF: Jon Freemon
AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt
AR2: Brian Poeschel
4TH: Marcos DeOliveira
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Tom Supple
Atlanta United’s predicted 11
Goalkeeper Brad Guzan
Centerback Luis Abram
Centerback Noah Cobb
Right fullback Brooks Lennon
Left fullback Caleb Wiley
Defensive midfielder Bartosz Slisz
Midfielder Tristan Muyumba
Attacking midfielder Thiago Almada
Winger Saba Lobjanidze
Winger Tyler Wolff
Striker Daniel Rios
For more content about Atlanta United
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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule
Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0
March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1
March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0
March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0
March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0
April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1
April 14 vs. Philadelphia, 2:30 p.m., Fox
April 20 vs. Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
April 27 at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
May 4 vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m.
May 11 vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
May 15 at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
May 18 at Nashville, 1:30 p.m.
May 25 vs. LAFC, 7:30 p.m.
May 29 at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
June 2 vs Charlotte, 4:30 p.m., Fox
June 15 vs. Houston, 7:30 p.m.
June 19 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
June 22 at St. Louis, 8:30 p.m.
June 29 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
July 3 at New England, 7:30 p.m.
July 6 at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
July 13 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
July 17 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.
July 20 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
July 26 vs. D.C. United in Leagues Cup, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4 vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup, 4 p.m.
Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.
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