Hudson River rivals running hot as Red Bulls visit NYCFC

Heading into the latest installment of the "Hudson River Rivalry," New York City Football Club and the New York Red Bulls significantly are ascending.

As the rivals attempt to climb the Eastern Conference standings, three points separate them. NYCFC will attempt to increase their advantage Saturday night when they host the Red Bulls in Queens, N.Y.

NYCFC (6-5-2, 20 points) enter Saturday in fourth and with two more goals scored than fifth-place Charlotte FC. NYCFC have scored 15 of their 16 goals in a 6-2-2 stretch following an 0-3-0 start and are attempting to win three straight for the second time this season.

NYCFC's last match at Citi Field was a rainy 2-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids on May 5. They are coming off a pair of one-goal wins at Toronto FC and Philadelphia. On Wednesday, they earned a 2-1 win over the Union when Alonso Martinez scored in the second minute, Hannes Wolf scored right before halftime and survived a Philadelphia goal being negated because of an offsides call.

"We had a bad start, but I felt the mentality in the locker room (demonstrated that) we care, but we knew we would do better," Wolf said. "Now we are playing very well."

The Red Bulls (6-2-5, 23 points) are five points behind first-place Inter Miami and their 24 goals are the second most in the East. New York is attempting to win three straight for the first time this season after scoring eight goals in back-to-back wins over the New England Revolution and D.C. United.

The Red Bulls scored four times for the third time this season when Elias Manoel, Cameron Harper, Lewis Morgan and Cory Burke scored in a 4-1 win at D.C. on Wednesday.

"It's built-in that we're going to be up for it. We always are. We're always ready to battle," Harper said. "We know it's going to be a really tough game, and they've been doing actually really well, and they're a good team."