The Los Angeles Galaxy will look for their third consecutive victory when they host the Vancouver Whitecaps at Dignity Health Tennis Center on Sunday.
LA are coming off a 1-0 victory on Wednesday against Real Salt Lake, while the Whitecaps drew 2-2 with Minnesota United, their fourth straight game without a defeat.
Match preview
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After going three games without a win, Greg Vanney and his team have steered their ship back on course with back-to-back victories as they sit only two points behind the Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City for the top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy controlled the tempo of their match on Wednesday from the start, putting Claret and Cobalt on their heels in an unusual 4-2-2-2 formation.
That win not only put them right in the thick of the race for first in the west, but it was also their third successive victory at home.
They seem to come alive offensively when they play at Dignity Health Tennis Center, scoring multiple goals in five of their home fixtures this year and losing only once.
The next little while will be filled with quick turnarounds for this team, so we will have to see what kind of impact that has, as LA have four days to rest heading into their match on Sunday before they play three games in nine days.
One of the most encouraging signs is that they have been able to find the back of the net without their star striker Chicharito lately, scoring five goals in their last two games.
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After coming up empty-handed on so many occasions this season, the Caps are starting to earn some points and are currently on their longest unbeaten run of the season.
Last Saturday, they fought their way back from a 2-1 deficit to score late in injury time, salvaging a point against a solid Minnesota squad.
Even though they are at the bottom of the Western Conference with 15 points from 16 games, Marc Dos Santos will consider his side unlucky to be in the position they are.
It is hard to argue with him, as they have lost all but two of their games this year by a single goal while conceding five in injury time.
As bad as things have been at times for them, stringing together a couple of victories can get them out of their current predicament in a hurry, as they are only six points behind Real Salt Lake for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Three of their last four games have been against teams currently in a playoff position, so they will be feeling very good about their game heading into this weekend.
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Team News
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Chicharito and Victor Vazquez are the only question marks for LA heading into this game, as both players missed their match earlier this week with undisclosed injuries.
Julian Araujo and Chicharito, were selected to play in the MLS All-Star game, while the club signed Serbian forward Dejan Joveljic from Wolfsberger AC in Austria to a four-year contract.
The Whitecaps could be missing Bruno Gaspar once again with a left ankle sprain, Andy Rose is still nursing a right hamstring issue and Maxime Crepeau could replace Thomas Hasal in goal after returning last week from the Gold Cup with Canada.
Cristian Dajome has three goals in his last two games, notching a brace against Minnesota last weekend, and he could be getting some help up front in the form of Lucas Cavallini.
The Caps made one move on the final day of the trade deadline on Thursday, signing 19-year-old midfielder Pedro Vite from Independiente del Valle, and he will be a part of this organization until 2025.
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Araujo, Coulibaly, Steres, Villafana; Lletget, Aguirre; Alvarez, Dunbar; Acosta, Cabral
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Crepeau; Brown, Veselinovic, Godoy, Gutierrez; Bikel, Metcalfe, Teibert; Dajome, Cavallini, Caicedo
We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps
The Galaxy are an energetic team and an exciting one to watch who have been clinical in front of goal at home, but they have struggled against non-playoff teams this year, losing 4-0 to Dallas and losing once to the Caps.
Vancouver have shown a lot more poise near the end of their matches lately, and they have played the Galaxy tough all year, plus they will have had a whole week to rest and prepare for this game, and they should be getting some key contributors defensively and offensively back in the lineup.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Los Angeles Galaxy win with a probability of 60.2%. A draw had a probability of 20.8% and a win for Vancouver Whitecaps had a probability of 18.96%.
The most likely scoreline for a Los Angeles Galaxy win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.93%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.32%) and 1-0 (9.07%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.66%), while for a Vancouver Whitecaps win it was 1-2 (5.15%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 9.7% likelihood.
