The Philadelphia Union are starting to find some form as the playoff chase heats up in the MLS Eastern Conference.
On Wednesday, the Union will play away from Subaru Park for the first time since August 28 against the New York Red Bulls.
The Union Pregame Show presented by DraftKings Sportsbook kicks off at 7 p.m. ET with Sean Brace and Joe Tansey. JP Dellacamera and Danny Higginbotham will be on the game call at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Postgame Show will follow after the final whistle.
The Union won their last two games at home over Atlanta United and Orlando City to move back up to fourth in the East standings with 38 points. The top four teams in each conference are guaranteed to play at least one home playoff match.
Jim Curtin's men outscored Orlando and Atlanta, who are both in the hunt for the No. 4 seed, by a combined score of 4-1.
Each win was impressive in its own right. The Union recovered from their Concacaf Champions League elimination by taking out some frustration against Orlando City.
On Saturday, the Union looked more like themselves against Atlanta. The back line turned in a solid performance that did not force Andre Blake to do much and the attack was firing on all cylinders.
More than one goal would have been welcomed by everyone, but the Union were not in danger of conceding for most of the match because of how strong their pressing game was.
The Union can apply similar principles to their approach on Wednesday against a team they are more than familiar with.
Sergio Santos helped immensely with the pressing of Atlanta's defenders and he will be asked to perform a similar role against the Red Bulls. Santos will start alongside Kacper Przybylko for the foreseeable future. Cory Burke will be sidelined for a "fairly significant amount of time" with a high ankle sprain, per Curtin.
That means Anthony Fontana and Matheus Davo could see more minutes off the bench. Curtin mentioned that Quinn Sullivan and Paxten Aaronson could be in the advanced role off the bench as well.
Przybylko and Santos have three combined goals in 12 total appearances against the Red Bulls. Only Sebastien Le Toux and C.J. Sapong scored five or more goals in club history against the Red Bulls in league play despite their high frequency of matches.
The Union are undefeated in their last four games with the Red Bulls. In that span, the Union have outscored their Eastern Conference rival 6-1. The only scored by the Red Bulls in that stretch was on a penalty in the 1-1 draw on July 8.
The Red Bulls come into Wednesday's match off back-to-back rivalry games with New York City FC. They took four points out of those matches to reach the 30-point mark. Those results dragged NYCFC back to the pack in the fight for the No. 3 seed. NYCFC is only one point ahead of the Union.
Philadelphia should do some scoreboard watching across the East on Wednesday since there is a full slate of MLS games.
The first-place New England Revolution (62 points) visit the seventh-place CF Montreal (37 points), No. 2 Nashville SC (45 points) hosts Orlando City (38 points). NYCFC should get back on track against 12th-place Chicago. The same should be said about No. 8 Atlanta (36 points) at home against Inter Miami. Sixth-place D.C. United (37 points) is playing out of conference against Minnesota United.