Wednesday night sees another all-Eastern Conference clash between 7th placed Toronto and 4th placed Atlanta United at the BMO Field, with the hosts seeking to end their recent sequence without a win in the MLS.
The hosts have now gone 8 matches without a win prior to their clash against Atlanta United which includes 5 defeats and 3 draws; losses to tonight’s opponents, Atlanta United (away) along with defeats to Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes and Dallas have prevented Toronto from moving up the table.
Even points picked up against DC United, Vancouver Whitecaps and Sporting Kansas in 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2 stalemates haven’t done much to improve their current situation either as they wallow in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference.
Form on home turf at their BMO Field has also been disappointing for the hosts as they’ve had to endure a 5-match spell without a win, and they’re now just clinging onto the last play-off spot by a thread ahead of this important clash.
Atlanta United are currently enjoying a pretty reasonable stretch of form heading into their trip to Toronto as the visitors have won 7 of their last 9 matches overall in the MLS, losing just twice to New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake.
Both of these recent defeats though were inflicted upon them away from home, but they’ve been offset by victories on their travels at Sporting Kansas and another Canadian outfit, Vancouver Whitecaps.
Atlanta United have posted mixed results on the road so far this season though, and it’s anyone’s guess as to which Atlanta outfit will turn up at BMO Field for this Wednesday night encounter.
The hosts have won 2 of the last 5 meetings between these two sides with Atlanta United recording a 2-0 home win over Toronto last time out, and the three meetings beforehand were all 2-2 draws.
Atlanta United are just 5 points behind the Eastern Conference leaders, Philadelphia Union, so they’ll have plenty of incentive to grab all three points here on Wednesday night as the visitors look to close the gap on the top side as well as further cement their position in the play-off pack.
The visitors also possess a couple of dangerous attacking personnel in the shape of midfielder Barco (4 goals) and forward Martinez (10 goals), and this may just give Atlanta the edge here.