The final El Trafico derby of the 2023 MLS regular season will take place on Saturday, as Los Angeles FC host the Los Angeles Galaxy at BMO Stadium.
A week ago, the Black and Gold suffered a third successive domestic defeat, 2-0 versus the Portland Timbers as they remain a point behind the Seattle Sounders for second in the Western Conference, while the Galaxy erased a two-goal deficit to claim a 2-2 draw with St Louis City, moving them to within four points of a playoff berth.
Match preview
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They have been near the top of the table all season long, but at the moment, the reigning league champions are going through as difficult a time as we have ever seen since Steve Cherundolo took charge at the start of 2022.
The third-highest scoring club in the West this year (40 goals) have not been nearly as decisive in the attacking third on their three-match slump, netting just twice over that stretch.
Not only are they struggling to find the back of the net, but we are seeing them commit numerous individual errors, which have often been punished, conceding multiple strikes in three successive encounters, after allowing a goal or fewer in their three previous MLS affairs.
Even the fortress of BMO Stadium has not aided these players as much as we are used to, with this group losing their third of the campaign in their previous home contest (3-1 to Inter Miami), which is one more loss than this team suffered at home during the previous regular season.
Eight of their nine losses domestically this year have occurred when conceding multiple goals, winning on only two occasions in 2023 when doing so (3-2 victory over the Portland Timbers and Galaxy).
All of their regular season defeats this year have come when LAFC have conceded the opening goal, while they have only emerged victorious on one of those occasions (2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City).
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The Galaxy are not going down without a fight, showing plenty of resilience on Sunday against the top team in the Western Conference, claiming their eighth point of the campaign when trailing in the second half.
With only eight matches remaining and four teams to catch in the postseason battle though, single points will be of little use to Greg Vanney's side in their quest to make the playoffs on consecutive occasions for the first time since a run of eight successive appearances from 2009-2016.
As good as some of their recent comebacks have been, the Galaxy have often struggled to put a game out of reach, tied for second in the league regarding draws (nine), while squandering four points when leading in the second half this year, beginning with a 2-2 draw at home to Sporting Kansas City.
Half of their remaining fixtures take place away from home, where the Galaxy have only triumphed twice all year, though they have only suffered one defeat in their last six road contests, with their previous away game ending in a 3-2 triumph over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Earlier this season, the Galaxy claimed a 2-0 triumph at LAFC, only their second-ever road victory against them in all competitions, with their previous one coming in a 2020 league fixture (2-0).
Since the end of May, this team have been among the most consistent sides around the league, averaging 1.8 points per game, tied with Real Salt Lake for the most in the Western Conference over that span, and putting them third in MLS behind the Columbus Crew (2.1) and Orlando City (2.1).
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Team News
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Giorgio Chiellini, Diego Rosales and Ryan Hollingshead missed the previous LAFC clash due to issues with their lower extremities, while Denil Maldonado (Honduras), Stipe Biuk (Croatia Under-21), Cristian Olivera (Uruguay) and Denis Bouanga (Gabon) were all away on international duty.
Carlos Vela has a goal involvement in each of his last three MLS home fixtures, two of the three goals scored by Mateusz Bogusz in the regular season have come at BMO Stadium, while John McCarthy conceded three goals in their last home fixture after posting a clean sheet in his previous two starts.
Vela has 12 goals in his career against the Galaxy, and he set up two of their three strikes the last time they faced them at BMO Stadium in 2022, while Ilie Sanchez was the only LAFC player to find the back of the net in their previous El Trafico clash this year, which they lost 2-1.
The Galaxy could be without Jalen Neal because of a sore abdomen, Martin Caceres has an avulsion fracture on his left knee, Gaston Brugman will likely miss this match with a torn meniscus on that part of his body, Lucas Calegari has a sore knee and Chicharito is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Raheem Edwards is eligible to return from his yellow card suspension, Efrain Alvarez was recently transferred to Club Tijuana in Liga MX, while Eriq Zavaleta and Kelvin Leerdam may not return in time for this encounter after featuring with El Salvador and Suriname, respectively, at the CONCACAF Nations League.
Riqui Puig recorded his team-leading seventh goal of the regular season on Sunday and had a team-high four chances created, Billy Sharp notched the equaliser, his second in 88 minutes of action as a substitute, Diego Fagundez collected his first assist with the Galaxy and Mauricio Cuevas made his first career start at home in that encounter.
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Duenas, Murillo, Long, Palacios; Tillman, Sanchez, Acosta; Vela, Bouanga, Bogusz
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Cuevas, Yoshida, Mavinga, Edwards; Delgado, Rosell; Fagundez, Puig, Boyd; Joveljic
We say: Los Angeles FC 3-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
These encounters have traditionally been high-scoring affairs with five or more goals in three of the last four competitive meetings between the two, and given the defensive struggles of each, we might be in for another goal fest this weekend.
LAFC have not played up to their potential in recent outings, but the Galaxy have consistently dug themselves a deficit, and it will be a lot harder to overcome that against one of the top defensive units in MLS this season.
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Top tip
Joel Lefevre
