FACT & FEATS - Montreal Impact v Philadelphia Union

Montreal has met Philadelphia Union 16 times in regular season play, since becoming an MLS club, and enjoys its best Eastern Conference playing record against “The City of Brotherly Love”. Montreal has won 7 and tied 6 of the previous encounters, losing only 3 (once at Stade Saputo).

At Stade Saputo, Montreal is 6-1-1,. In Phillie tied games are plentiful, Montreal is 1-2-5.

Montreal leads the series goals tally with 30 against Union’s 19.

Union’s sole victory in Montreal was on 22 August 2015, the only goal of the game coming from Sebastien Le Toux in the 78^thmin, in front of a capacity, 20,801 spectators. That same Sebastien Le Toux has scored on Montreal in the 4^thmin of its first-ever game in MLS!

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HIGHEST ATTENDANCE -

Union has filled out Saputo Stadium to capacity on three successive visits. As well as the game referred to above, they drew 1-1 in May 2016, before Montreal triumphed 5-1 in July the same year. All in front of 20,801 fans.

WINNING STREAKS –

The longest winning streak between the clubs is set at 2 games, achieved by Montreal on two occasions, most recently in the last two meetings of the teams in July and August 2017. Should Montreal win on Saturday, it will be the first time either club has recorded three wins on the trot, over the other.

Montreal has also gone six games unbeaten against the Union in two spells. Should they avoid defeat on Saturday, that will extend the current run over Philadelphia to 7 unbeaten.

The longest unbeaten run enjoyed by Philadelphia stands at 4.

GOALS & ASSISTS -

Marco Di Vaio is the top-scorer in the series with 5. Retired Frenchman, Sebastien Le Toux top-scores for Union with 4. Amongst current players in each squad, Nacho Piatti leads the way for Montreal on 4, CJ Sapong for Philadelphia on 2.

Di Vaio and Didier Drogba have each scored hat-tricks against Philadelphia, in 5-3 and 5-1 victories respectively. Other Impact players to score more than once in a game against Philadelphia are, Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Blerim Dzemaili.

For Phillie, Le Toux and more recently, Dutchman, Roland Aalberg (now CSKA Sofia) have each recorded braces in games against Montreal Impact.

Justin Mapp emphatically leads the series on assists with 5. Nacho Piatti is closest to that with 3. Top recorder of assists for Union is CJ Sapong on 2.

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The earliest goal recorded in the series was the 2^ndminute opener by Marco Di Vaio in that 5-3 success in May 2013. Jack McInerney equalized in the 5^thminute that day to record the earliest goal by a Union player in the series. This was repeated last season by Roland Alberg in the first meeting of the teams at Talen Energy Park, in which Union raced into a 3-0 lead, only for the match to end up tied at 3-3.

The latest goal recorded in the series was scored by Blerim Dzemaili (90+5) in Montreal’s 3-0 win in Philadelphia in 2017. It’s one of 4 goals Montreal has registered after the 90^thmin in games v Philadelphia.

The most frequently occurring score-line between the sides at Stade Saputo is 2-1, home win. It’s happened twice including the last Montreal meeting of the sides, last July.

5-1 is the largest margin of victory between the teams, when Montreal triumphed in July 2016. All three of Philadelphia’s wins over Montreal have been by one-goal margin.

WHO’S TURNED UP MOST -

The honor goes to Patrice Bernier with 14 appearances (13 starts). Retied US-international, Brian Carroll holds the series record for Philadelphia on 12 (11 starts).

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Of current players, Raymon Gaddis of Philadelphia holds the crown with 11 apps (all as a starter), while Evan Bush is Impact’s most frequent in facing Philadelphia (7).

COACH’S CORNER -

Neither Mario Biello (3-0-3) nor Marco Schallibaum (2-0-1) tasted defeat against Philadelphia. Klopas went 1-2-2, and Marsch, 1-1-0. For Philadelphia, no coach has a better than .500 record. John Hackworth had the worst stats (0-3-2) in the series, and Piotr Nowak went 1-1-0, while current Phille boss, Jim Curtin has a 2-3-4 record v Impact.

Remi Garde is the eighth different coach to enter the series.

LAST LINE OF DEFENCE -

Troy Perkins holds the series record for shut-outs at 2 (6 matches). Evan Bush will equal that on Saturday should Union fail again to score away from home.

Zack McMath with 8 appearances for Philadelphia between the sticks leads the series in goalie appearances. It’s another record that Evan Bush can equal by appearing for Montreal on Saturday.

DISCIPLINARY –

Five players have seen red, three from Montreal; Nelson Rivas, Andrew Wenger and Patrice Bernier, and two from Union; Jack McInerney and Cameroonian, Eric Ayuk Mbu.

Most yellow cards collected in the series is 5, by Philadelphia defender Raymon Gaddis. Montreal’s Hassoun Camara is one behind on 4.

SUBS -

Antoine Hoppenot has emerged from the bench no fewer than 7 times in the series – a record. Despite this, amazingly, he’s never started a game against the Impact.

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Marco Donadel and Anthony Jackson-Hamel have each 3 appearances as substitutes for Impact. Like Hoppenot, Jackson-Hamel has yet to start a match in the series, but he can point to a brace of goals scored in the 3-3 tie in 2017.

BORED? -

Evan Bush has sat unused on the bench 8 times against Philadelphia, while Calum Mallace claims the outfield honors with 4. Four is also the number of non-appearing sub appearances for three Union players; goalkeeper, Andre Blake, Fabinho and John McCarthy.