Friday, September 18, 2020

New on Sports Illustrated: New York City FC-Revolution Preview

Bruce Arena knows New England Revolution's home form must improve as they prepare to host New York City for the second time this month.

The Revs are back at Gillette Stadium on Saturday after consecutive away matches returned a win at Chicago Fire and a last-gasp defeat at Philadelphia Union.

But New England's most recent home game was a 2-0 reverse at the hands of next opponents NYCFC.

Indeed, Arena's side have not won at home all season, their last success also coming against NYCFC almost a year ago.

"As we enter this game on Saturday, we need to start getting results," Arena told 98.5 The Sports Hub. "The game against New York City is critically important.

"I think we'll be well prepared and hopefully we get all three points."

He added: "We have not taken advantage of our home field and we have to do it. Our next two games are at home.

"We have New York City on Saturday and then Montreal on Wednesday. These are important home games ahead of us."

NYCFC were dealt a blow on Friday, meanwhile, as coach Ronny Deila confirmed Maxi Moralez was facing up to six weeks out with his knee injury.

The playmaker, still waiting on his first goal of the season, lasted only 30 minutes of the previous match against FC Cincinnati.

However, Deila said: "We have shown before we can win without Maxi. That's a strength of the team.

"But everybody understands he's an important player for us, so that will hurt us, of course."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

New England Revolution - Lee Nguyen

Midfielder Nguyen was a surprise inclusion on the bench last week in Philadelphia as he returned to New England, having excelled with the Revs prior to his 2018 departure. The 33-year-old made the MLS Best XI in 2014 and Arena will hope he can now rediscover his best form.

New York City - Anton Tinnerholm

Tinnerholm is one of the league's outstanding full-backs and has proved his worth in recent weeks. During a five-match unbeaten run which featured four wins, Tinnerholm scored twice, had one assist and contributed to three clean sheets.

KEY OPTA FACTS

-- New York City picked up a 2-0 victory over the Revolution at Gillette Stadium in early September, their second victory in seven trips to Foxborough. NYCFC have never won two straight matches against the Revs in the club's MLS history (14 previous meetings).

-- New England have lost two of their past three matches, including their defeat to NYCFC earlier this month, after a seven-match unbeaten regular season run that took them from March through the end of August.

-- NYCFC have collected 13 points from their past five matches (W4 D1), conceding just two goals in the process. They've allowed just three goals since the regular season restarted, tied with Philadelphia and Columbus for fewest in the league in that time.

-- All 10 Revs goals this season have been scored by players whose surname begins with 'B' (Bou, Buchanan, Buksa, Bunbury).

-- The only two New York City players to score multiple goals in the 2020 regular season are Scandinavian: Alexander Ring of Finland and Tinnerholm of Sweden. Including the MLS is Back knockout stages, only one of their past 22 goals has been scored by an American (Keaton Parks versus Chicago Fire on August 29).

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