Montreal Impact vs. New England Revolution | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Montreal Impact vs. New England Revolution
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 10
Stade Saputo — Montreal
May 5 — 1 pm ET
WATCH: TVAS, ESPN+

Looking for MLS LIVE? It's now on ESPN+. Sign up for a free trial!

The Montreal Impact will attempt to plug a defense that is leaking goals at an alarming rate and snap a four-match losing streak against a New England Revolution team that defeated surging Sporting Kansas City, 1-0, at home in Week 9.

The Revolution have won their last five games against Montreal in league play, outscoring them 14-3 in the process, per Opta. That includes a 4-0 victory at Gillette Stadium on April 6 over an Impact team reduced to 10 men after Saphir Taider was sent off in the 13th minute. Teal Bunbury, Andrew Farrell, Diego Fagundez and Wilfried Zahibo scored one goal apiece for the Revs.

• Warshaw: Tata beats cagey Garde at tactical chess
• Last-minute Lee: LAFC snag Nguyen before deadline
• Garde: Jackson-Hamel, Oduro "not good enough"
• Dielna named to second straight MLS Team of the Week
• Friedel: "The work rate has exceeded our expectations"

Montreal Impact

It was a positive start for Montreal (2-6-0) when Taider scored his first MLS goal in the 13th minute. It was a lead that held up for more than an hour. But a Miguel Almiron penalty kick opened the floodgates for Atlanta United, which struck four times in the final 20 minutes.

It was the second consecutive game the Impact conceded four times after halftime with 13 goals against over the last four games coming in the second half.

Remi Garde made one change to a side that lost 5-3 to LAFC the previous week, with Ken Krolicki replacing Victor Cabrera in an altered 4-5-1 formation.

“I think if we would’ve had that effort last week we would’ve won that game,” goalkeeper Evan Bush said. “And if we have that effort moving forward – the month of May – I think there’s a lot of games in there that we can win with this effort.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: D - Zakaria Diallo (ruptured Achilles tendon), D - Kyle Fisher (tibia), M - Marco Donadel (gluteal muscle injury), M - David Choiniere (ankle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: D - Rod Fanni (thigh)

Projected Starting XI
(4-5-1, right to left)
GK: Evan Bush — Chris Duvall, Rudy Camacho, Jukka Raitala, Daniel Lovitz — Alejandro Silva, Ken Krolicki, Samuel Piette, Saphir Taider, Jeisson Vargas — Ignacio Piatti

• Notes: Ignacio Piatti has scored just two goals in seven appearances against New England, tied for his second fewest against a MLS club has faced at least five times. … Dating back to last season, the Impact have lost 15 of their last 18 MLS matches (3W). They’ve allowed 2.3 goals per game over the 18 games and have allowed 3+ goals in four straight matches.

New England Revolution

New England (4-2-2) are off to a strong start under Brad Friedel in the first two months of the MLS season, but the Revs made a statement Saturday by snapping Sporting Kansas City’s seven-match unbeaten streak.

Bunbury scored the lone goal one minute before halftime and the Revs stifled a Sporting offense that scored 20 goals in their first eight games. It was only the second time SKC have been held scoreless this season.

Claude Dielna sparked that solid defensive effort, and was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for a second straight week.

“You guys saw from minute one, the game was intense,” defender Jalil Anibaba said after the game. “The tempo was extremely high, [and] they almost scored off the kickoff. We were all emotionally invested in this one – like we always are – but this one needed a little bit of extra motivation and emotion to be put into it.”

Late Tuesday night, the Revs put an end to the Lee Nguyen saga by trading the playmaker to LAFC in exchange for at least $350,000 in General Allocation Money and $350,000 in Targeted Allocation Money. 

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: M - Isaac Angking (illness)

Projected Starting XI
(4-1-4-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Turner — Andrew Farrell, Jalil Anibaba, Claude Dielna, Gabriel Somi — Wilfried Zahibo — Juan Agudelo, Luis Caicedo, Diego Fagundez, Cristian Penilla — Teal Bunbury

• Notes: Bunbury has four goals in his last five appearances for the Revolution, as many as he had in his previous 17 appearances. … New England are 2W-1L-1D in their last four league road games, averaging 1.8 points per game. They had lost eight straight on the road prior to this stretch, averaging 0.5 goals per game.

All-Time Series

• Overall: Montreal Impact 7 wins, 22 goals … New England Revolution 6 wins, 21 goals … 2 ties
• At Montreal: Impact 4 wins, 15 goals … Revolution 4 wins, 13 goals … 1 tie
• Last meeting at Montreal: Montreal Impact 2, New England Revolution 3 (Oct. 22, 2017)

Officials

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistant Referees: Adam Garner, Matthew Nelson
4th Official: Ted Unkel
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic