With one round of the regular season remaining, New York Red Bulls have lost even their mathematical chance of reaching the MLS Eastern Conference wild-card round. Atlanta United had lost all hope even earlier.
New York Red Bulls
But the players will not simply go through the motions, particularly the hosts. After all, they need to give their fans a good send-off until spring. New York Red Bulls have missed out on the play-offs because of a disappointing autumn: they have won just four of their last 11 matches. They know how to score — averaging 1.83 goals per match over the last 30 days — but have conceded just as many.
Atlanta United
Atlanta United have spent the entire season near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They have not managed to spend even a single round in the wild-card places. One small achievement was climbing one place to 13th in the conference thanks to a win over Toronto in the previous round (3:1). Atlanta United's problems stem from their weak defence, as they have conceded an average of 1.73 goals per match this season.
New York Red Bulls vs Atlanta United Prediction
In fact, New York Red Bulls are even less organised defensively — they head into the final round having conceded an average of 1.88 goals per match. Neither team is hopeless in attack — both score more than a goal per match. Given that and their defensive weaknesses, we see over 2.5 goals combined with both teams to score as the most logical bet.
