Real Salt Lake have a chance to stretch their unbeaten run in MLS to four matches when they host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday at America First Field.
Heading into this match, Claret and Cobalt are trailing the Portland Timbers for that final playoff spot on goal difference, drawing Minnesota United 1-1 over the weekend, while the Galaxy are now dead-last in the Western Conference after falling 1-0 at home to Charlotte FC.
Match preview
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A string of positive results has RSL back in the playoff conversation following a difficult start to the regular season, losing four of their opening five encounters.
The most significant improvement over their current four-match unbeaten run in all competitions has been their defensive structure, with Pablo Mastroeni's men conceding four goals in those four games after giving up a combined 13 in their opening five fixtures of the campaign.
The 23 goals they have conceded this season is the second-most in the league behind their Wednesday opponents, while RSL have allowed multiple strikes in three home fixtures this year.
Their problems at home so far this year stem from an ability to finish off some excellent build-up play, without a goal in their last three matches played at America First Field, though they have only suffered one defeat there since the start of April (3-0 versus Los Angeles FC).
Their draw at Minnesota was the first time all season that they had failed to hang onto a second-half advantage, while RSL have come back to earn six points when trailing at the interval over this campaign.
Salt Lake will carry a four-match unbeaten run at home versus the Galaxy into this midweek encounter, claiming victory on three of those occasions, with their last defeat against them in Utah occurring in September 2019 (2-1).
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May was a demanding month for Greg Vanney and his Galaxy team, who played eight games in 26 days, averaging a break of 3.3 days in between.
At this stage of the campaign, it feels like the Galaxy have hit rock-bottom, dead-last in the league with nine points and without a goal in their previous three domestic fixtures.
LA lead the league in key passes (167) but have rarely had someone there to finish those opportunities, scoring the fewest goals in MLS this season (10).
Virtually everything that could go wrong for the Galaxy in 2023 has, as they have conceded the most goals in MLS and, ahead of their weekend fixture versus Charlotte, had been underperforming their expected goals differential by a whopping 14.
They are not anywhere near the team many had expected to see this season, and that frustration seems to have trickled down to the players, as LA are tied with the Chicago Fire for the most red cards this year (three) while also producing the joint fourth-most cautions (35).
If they could somehow translate their success from the US Open Cup into MLS, the Galaxy might be able to turn their campaign around, with LA outscoring their two US Open rivals (the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC) 5-1, which is as many goals as they have scored in their last seven league fixtures.
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Team News
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Anderson Julio remains out for Salt Lake with a hamstring strain, Bryan Oviedo has a sore groin, Brayan Vera could miss this match due to fatigue, Erik Holt is probable despite a sore shoulder, Moses Nyeman and Diego Luna are on international duty, while Zack Farnsworth may not be recovered in time from his thigh injury and Zac MacMath suffered a knock early in the second half last weekend and was replaced by Gavin Beavers.
It was a rough Saturday for Justen Glad, as his own goal cost his side two points, cancelling out the opener by Jefferson Savarino, while Glad will be suspended for this encounter after picking up another yellow card.
Marcelo Silva notched the lone goal the last time they hosted LA in the regular season on their only effort on target, with MacMath stopping six shots for the clean sheet.
Los Angeles will be without star striker Chicharito, who picked up his first career MLS red card on Saturday, while Chris Mavinga, Douglas Costa and Sega Coulibaly all sat out because of lower leg injuries.
Tyler Boyd had a team-high three chances created last weekend in what was his 10th start of the campaign, Jalen Neal had a pass accuracy of 96.4%, while Marky Delgado won possession seven times along with six duels.
In their previous away fixture, Boyd and Riqui Puig found the back of the net in a 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC at the US Open Cup, with Jonathan Klinsmann stopping six shots for the shutout.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Beavers; Holt, Vera, Silva, Brody; Savarino, Chang, Loffelsend, Rubin; Kreilach, Musovski
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Leerdam, Neal, Caceres, Aude; Boyd, Delgado, Brugman, Edwards; Puig, Joveljic
We say: Real Salt Lake 0-0 Los Angeles Galaxy
Both teams lack inspiration at the moment, as the Galaxy and RSL have been relatively inconsistent in their league fixtures thus far, and we anticipate a lacklustre performance from each with only a few days of rest.
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Top tip
Joel Lefevre
