Philadelphia Union will travel to Gillette Stadium to take on New England Revolution on Saturday night. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 PM EST (TV: The Comcast Network, MLS LIVE). In their last five matchups, New England has won three of five, including the last the last two matchups this season.

Philadelphia will surely be in for a tough matchup especially considering the venue. The Revolution have made Foxborough a fortress this season. In 15 games at home this season, New England averages 0.7 goals conceded, with seven clean sheets. Recently, New England has been one of the hottest teams in the league. In their last nine games, the Revolution have gone 7-1-1 while only recently losing to Montreal Impact last week.

New England will have much to play for in this matchup on Saturday night. With a win this weekend, the Revolution can clinch a playoff berth and, with results going their way, can finish at the top of the MLS Eastern Conference standings at the end of the weekend.

For Philadelphia, it is a much different situation. The Union, technically still in the MLS Eastern Conference playoff race, will have some serious decisions to make with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Finals on Wednesday September 30th looming.

“We’ll find the right balance of lineup to give guys the proper rest and proper confidence going into a final.” Philadelphia Coach Jim Curtin said after the team’s win on last Sunday. “…There will be no regrets in terms of whether we are fresh or not in terms of the final. We will be fresh for sure.”

With this in mind, it is expected that the Union will rest most of their usual starting 11 on Saturday. Considering the Union are in the playoff race still, the team will need to make every push to get a result of three points. Let’s take a closer look at what to expect.  

In goal, Curtin has showed he prefers John McCarthy in the U.S. Open Cup Final so, unless he wants to give him some rest, expect the young McCarthy to start between the pipes.

The backline is where possible decisions get interesting. Maurice Edu was able to go 90 minutes last Sunday in his return from injury. If Curtin feels that Edu could use more game minutes, then fans should expect the captain to play some, if not all, of the game.

However, there is the possibility of re-injury, which would certainly be a blow to the Union’s hopes to hoist the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. If Curtin is looking to save some of his starters, he will opt for a backline of Raymon Gaddis, Ethan White, Steven Vitoria, Warren Creavalle. With this backline, it would be likely to see some sort of timeshare between Gaddis and Fabinho where each plays a half.

In midfield, there are some more decisions to make by Curtin. In the 4-2-3-1, Philadelphia plays two men in front of their backline. The main decision is to determine whether the Union are a better squad with Michael Lahoud or Brian Carroll as the center defensive midfielder in their double pivot. Because of his big game experience as well as his more defensive play allowing Vincent Nogueira more freedom, Carroll will likely get the start on Wednesday. This means that Lahoud will likely start Saturday, alongside Zach Pfeffer, with Eric Ayuk and possibly Andrew Wenger on the wings.

In central attacking midfield, Curtin could opt to give Cristian Maidana and Tranquillo Barnetta some minutes so that they are ready on Wednesday. At Forward, Fernando Aristeguieta, if healthy, should be in line to get the start. If he cannot go, Conor Casey will probably be next line.

In the end, while the Union are technically still in the playoff race, their main focus will be to lift a trophy on September 30th. Keeping this in mind, expect New England to have a relatively easily time against what should be a Philadelphia B team.