There is plenty of football taking place in America in the coming days and it all gets underway on Thursday night when the MLS 2025 season continues with one match in the Eastern Conference where New York City FC host Atlanta United.
Both of these teams kick off outside the playoff spots in the East so both have a bit of work to do in the second half of the season and will be looking for a win here to assist with that quest. This should be a competitive game.
Where to watch
As always this season, there will be full coverage of the match via the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Bookmaker live streams will also show the game, which kicks off in the Bronx at 12.30am.
New York City FC
New York City FC haven’t had the first half of the campaign that they would have wanted but they are beginning to show signs of life over the last few weeks. There was probably going to need to be a bedding in period for a new coach, especially given the stranger optics when it comes to City home matches but one defeat in their last five outings would suggest that they are starting to head in the right direction and a win here would further consolidate those thoughts.
New York City will have to manage their squad a little bit here because they are without their leading forward Alonso Martinez and goalkeeper Matt Freese who both got called up to represent their countries at the upcoming Gold Cup so we will find out a little more about the depth that the Citizens have. NYCFC have lost two of their last four home games without scoring so there will be a real emphasis on the attackers to come to the fore without Martinez here.
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Atlanta United
I don’t think it is writing a different narrative to suggest that Atlanta United aren’t having the beginning to the season that they would have wanted. They were huge spenders going into the campaign and generally when that sort of outlay takes place in this league there has to be success else prices will be paid. Atlanta are operating on one point per game across the opening half of the season and that pace isn’t going get them anywhere near the playoffs, which would have been a minimum requirement heading into the competition.
The attacking players that Atlanta have signed haven’t clicked as a unit yet and that is going to have to happen much more regularly in the second half of the campaign. The Five Stripes have won two of their last three matches but their away record is absolutely terrible. They have picked up just two points from a possible 21 on their travels but if there is a positive for them it comes in the form of the fact that they have dodged Gold Cup call ups so have a relatively strong squad to use here.
Betting
While it isn’t ideal that Alonso Martinez isn’t around for this match, I do still think we are going to see goals in the game because neither defence is really pulling up too many trees. New York City FC are missing their starting keeper and a regular defender so it might be that then need to fight fire with fire in this contest. Atlanta should be more than happy to oblige in such an encounter because they have spent so much on their forward line it would have to be their best chance.
As ever when goals are expected the question is how to get involved in such a situation and I think the way forward here is to take both teams to score and over 2.5 goals. That punt landed in the reverse meeting between the two which was a crazy 4-3 win for Atlanta United and it landed in four of the six matches prior to that too. In fact, BTTS is on a run of seven straight wins in matches between these two and if that happens here I’ll be happy to expect another goal on top because a 1-1 draw does neither any good.
Tips
Back Both teams to score and over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
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