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While Red Bulls fans at home have been treated to consistent excellence for the bulk of the season, the away games have been considerably more punishing and are a main reason the Red Bulls have been unable to keep pace atop the Eastern Conference table. But they hope to get on track today.
Though Chicago are in the midst of a record-setting winless run on the road, they are considerably more formidable at home, going 4W-2L-3T and have not lost at Toyota Park since mid-April.
The Red Bulls, meanwhile, have yet to win on the road all year outside of the 7-0 win over NYC FC in May. Considering they only narrowly beat Chicago at home several days earlier, one can expect a tough match from a team that loves to play better ball at home.
Sacha Kljestan is likely to be given a rest after his masterful performance both against NYC FC in last week's Derby as well as in the MLS All-Star game, where he contributed heavily on the lone goal by Didier Drogba in the 2-1 loss to Arsenal.
As a result, we can expect Jesse Marsch to put together a lineup very similar to the one he used against Orlando City earlier this month, when he rested Kljestan for the full game and gave Felipe the No. 10 spot.
Here is the New York Red Bulls predicted XI at the Chicago Fire:
GK Luis Robles
DF Connor Lade
DF Aurelien Collin
DF Ronald Zubar
DF Chris Duvall - Marsch will continue to rotate his right backs while he eagerly awaits the return of Kemar Lawrence.
MF Dax McCarty
MF Sean Davis - With Felipe conceivably moving to the 10, Davis gets the nod at defensive midfielder over Shaun Wright-Phillips
MF Mike Grella
MF Felipe - In at the 10 spot for the resting Kljestan will be Felipe, who displayed exceptional form in the 2-0 win over Orlando City in a similar situation
MF Alex Muyl
FW Bradley Wright-Phillips
It's worth noting that BWP needs only one more goal to surpass Juan Pablo Angel as the Red Bulls' all-time leading scorer in all competitions. Given Bradley's penchant for scoring goals in bunches, he could very well tie or even break JPA's all-time RBNY scoring mark in MLS as well. Could this be the week the former Man City man surpasses those legendary milestones?
What do you think?