Atlanta welcome Chicago hoping to continue winning run at home

Picture: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta and Chicago will face on Saturday as the MLS Cup champions will look for another win at home.

The Five Stripes have won their last four games at home and are coming off a 3-0 win over Minnesota United as Josef Martinez scored two late goals to seal the win.

Atlanta (7-5-2) are fourth in the East right now with 23 points and are three behind first place D.C. United.

Chicago (4-5-6) sit seventh in the East after their 3-3 tie with D.C. that brought them into a playoff spot over Toronto FC.

The Fire come into the weekend winless in their last three outings.

They’ve met five times with Atlanta winning three and Chicago winning two; the most recent meeting came in Atlanta when the hosts won 2-1.

Martinez has three goals in the five games against the Fire.

George Bello, Brandon Vazquez, and Hector Villalba have been ruled out for Frank de Boer’s side, Ezequiel Barco is away at the U20 World Cup, and Kevin Kratz is off the injury list and available for selection.

Veljko Paunovic welcomed Nicolas Gaitan back to the lineup on Wednesday while Francisco Calvo is a yellow card away from suspension.

Kickoff is a 6 p.m. EST. on Saturday evening at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be shown in Canada on DAZN, and in the U.S. on UniMas.