Things a bit different on both sides in Montreal

CHESTER >> Three months have passed since the Montreal Impact ventured to Chester for a 3-0 loss to the Union in April. As befits the peculiarity of the MLS season, so many of the pieces in place that day won’t have a say in the return meeting Saturday in Quebec (8 p.m., PHL17).

Cory Burke, lost presumably for the season due to immigration issues, scored that day for the Union. The game plan against the Impact then was to deploy Jamiro Monteiro at the No. 10 as an advanced destroyer to check the deep-lying playmaking of Samuel Piette.

Injuries will rule both of those players out of the rematch. And the big name in the Impact’s attack, Ignacio Piatti, missed the first game but is back in the fold after his second extended knee-injury absence of the year.

“A team that is in a tough stretch where they’ve lost four in a row,” manager Jim Curtin said Wednesday of the Impact. “But they have a group that has a lot of firepower, that at home is always dangerous and we have to be on our ‘A’ game to get all three points.”

The points are more desperately needed by the home side. Montreal (9-11-3, 30 points) enters sixth in the Eastern Conference, just above the playoff line, but its 1.3 points per game is only good for eighth in the league. The Impact have lost four straight and have won just five of 10 home matches (5-4-1).

They get Piatti back after two months out. The Argentine went 65 minutes and scored the only goal of Wednesday’s win over York9 in the second leg of the teams’ Canadian Championships third-round tie in his return. The three-time All-Star has played just five games, scoring three goals, in the league.

Without Piatti, the Impact have been perplexing. They are thirdworst in the East in goals scored (27) and goal differential (minus-11). Even the 7-1 pasting meted out by Sporting Kansas City doesn’t fully account for the latter, and it’s been nine games since a usually stingy defense has kept a clean sheet.

“They’re thin right now, their backs are against the wall,” Curtin said. “But at the same time, that’s still a very good roster, it’s a very good group of players. We expect a real tough game, one where we don’t want to let it turn into them hitting us on the counter, which they’re very good at ... We’ll protect against that.”

The Impact will be without Piette (intercostal muscle strain), and both teams are missing a first-choice outside back. Montreal’s Bacary Sagna picked up a red card in a loss to Columbus, and the Union’s Kai Wagner, who was red-carded against Montreal, is suspended for yellow-card accumulation.

The Union (11-6-6, 39 points) also list Sergio Santos (ankle) as out, though the return to health of Ilsinho and Warren Creavalle plus a good run of form for Anthony Fontana (goal, assist in his last three games) help compensate. The Union are 2-2-1 in their last five trips to Stade Saputo, including a 2-0 win last May.

With all the changes, this game could devolve into an ugly, Eastern Conference slugfest. Given the Union’s resilience, that might suit them.

“It’s one of those Eastern Conference games that’s worth six points in reality,” Curtin said.