Saturday marks the beginning of a sizeable road trip for Atlanta United. The 5-Stripes will play four of their next five matches on the road, and the first stop is Philadelphia for a match against Union.
It's a challenging spot for Atlanta United to try and create a spark. Philadelphia is in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and the 5-Stripes haven't won a match at Subaru Park since July 2018. Still, head coach Ronny Deila and his squad know that turning their positive performances into points has to start sooner rather than later.
Deila will bring a slightly different starting lineup on the road up north. The gaffer has chosen not to start Saba Lobjanidze for the first time this season, and Jay Fortune will slot into his place on the left side of Atlanta United's attack. Fortune will be a danger with the ball at his feet, and he's been quite the accurate passer this season as well. He's fourth on the squad with a 91 percent completion percentage.
Noah Cobb will start for the first time this season. He's been working his way onto the pitch with Derrick Williams out the last couple of matches with a hamstring injury. Williams is still unavailable for Saturday's match per Atlanta United's availability report from Friday, and Cobb is Deila's choice to replace him against Union.
Miguel Almirón and Alexey Miranchuk round out the Atlanta United attack. The 5-Stripes are hungry to break their goalscoring drought, as they haven't put the ball in the back of the net in over 100 minutes and haven't scored an open-play goal in over 180. As Deila said after training Thursday, good defending keeps you from the bottom of the table but good attacking puts you in contention to win things. Saturday is an opportunity to get the ball rolling.
Here's the full starting XI for Atlanta United against Philadelphia Union:
Brad Guzan (C), Brooks Lennon, Stian Gregersen, Noah Cobb, Pedro Amador, Bartosz Slisz, Tristan Muyumba, Alexey Miranchuk, Jay Fortune, Miguel Almirón, Emmanuel Latte Lath
Reserves: Josh Cohen, Ronald Hernández, Luis Abram, Matt Edwards, Luke Brennan, Mateusz Klich, Will Reilly, Saba Lobjanidze, Jamal Thiaré
Match Notes:
-- Brooks Lennon needs one assist to break Atlanta United's all-time assists record. He and Julian Gressel are currently tied with 39 assists for the club.
-- Lennon leads current Atlanta players in goal contributions against Union, with one goal and three assists in his career against Philadelphia.
-- Miguel Almirón is a goal away from becoming Atlanta United's sole second place all-time MLS regular season goalscorer. He is currently tied with Thiago Almada at 23.
-- Noah Cobb is set to make his first start of the 2025 MLS season. Cobb has appeared as a substitute in four matches for Atlanta United this season and now gets the chance to start alongside Stian Gregersen at center back.
-- Jay Fortune is ready to start for the second time this season, this time further up the pitch. He played in the holding midfield in his first start of the season against Charlotte FC March 1. Against Philadelphia, he'll be in a more attacking role on the left side.
-- Atlanta United and Philadelphia Union are split in their MLS regular season history, with a record of 4-6-4 (W-D-L). Atlanta has outscored Philadelphia 22-20 in those matchups. The two Eastern Conference squads drew both of their meetings last season.
