Los Angeles FC take on Vancouver Whitecaps in the Western Conference of the MLS on Saturday, with the visitors needing a positive result to avoid being cut adrift towards the bottom of the table.
The hosts, meanwhile, saw their three-match winning run come to an end at the expense of Portland Timbers in midweek, but still retain a healthy cushion inside the playoff positions.
Match preview
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Bob Bradley's side had been on an excellent run prior to their trip to Portland on Wednesday, winning four of their previous five games to surge up to fifth in the table.
However, after former Arsenal and Real Sociedad forward Carlos Vela had cancelled out Diego Valeri's second-minute opener for the hosts, Felipe Mora struck deep into injury time to seal a crucial victory for The Timbers, who moved two points and one place behind their opponents in the process.
There will certainly be no panic among the Los Angeles staff and players, though, especially given that they have reached the playoffs in all three of their campaigns as an MLS side since joining the division in 2018.
With the likes of Vela, Diego Rossi and Jose Cifuentes all in superb form in offensive areas, the Black and Gold surely possess more than enough firepower to win more games than they will lose, particularly against struggling sides like Vancouver on Saturday.
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Indeed, Vancouver's 2-1 win against Los Angeles Galaxy last weekend was their only victory in their last 10 matches, condemning them to second-bottom in the table and five points adrift of the playoff positions.
However, that victory against Los Angeles' local rivals - who are third in the table - shows that they should not be taken for granted in California on Saturday, even if they have ultimately failed to qualify for the playoffs in four of their last five seasons.
At times, though, Marc Dos Santos's side sorely lack creativity, as was on stark evidence during their bore 0-0 draw against Houston Dynamo in midweek.
The hosts failed to have a single shot on target across the 90 minutes, even if Dos Santos - who has been in charge of the Whitecaps since 2018 - would have been satisfied by restricting Houston to only one themselves.
However, they are likely to need to take their performance levels at both ends of the pitch up a level if they are to gain a positive result against Bradley's side on Saturday.
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Team News
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Los Angeles will remain without Kwadwo Opoku due to a knee injury, which has kept the forward out of action since May.
Otherwise, though, Bradley appears to have a full squad at his disposal, with the 63-year-old likely to revert to a four-man defence after losing to Portland with a 5-3-2 system.
Diego Palacios and Francisco Ginella could make way at the expense of midfield duo Raheem Edwards and Eduard Atuesta to allow the switch back to Bradley's preferred 4-3-1-2 formation.
Vancouver, meanwhile, are likely to travel without defender Bruno Gaspar due to a knee injury.
The Angola international, who is on loan from Sporting Lisbon, has only managed to make four appearances for the club so far.
Javain Brown and Erik Godoy could return to Dos Santos's defence after being rotated against Houston.
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
Romero; Kim, Segura, Murillo, Farfan; Blessing, Atuesta, Edwards; Cifuentes; Vela, Rossi
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Hasal; Brown, Veselinovic, Godoy, Gutierrez; Bikel, Baldisimo, Teibert; Dajome, White, Caicedo
We say: Los Angeles FC 2-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
We cannot see beyond a comfortable home victory between these two sides on Saturday.
Bradley's outfit have far more attacking quality than their forthcoming opponents, whose record of one win in their last 10 matches suggests they could be in for a long, hard campaign ahead.
Top tip
Brett Curtis
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 FC win with a probability of 77.94%. A draw had a probability of 14% and a win for Vancouver Whitecaps had a probability of 8.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Los Angeles FC win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (10.32%) and 2-1 (8.76%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.56%), while for a Vancouver Whitecaps win it was 1-2 (2.48%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 3.3% likelihood.
