San Jose Earthquakes will look to break a six-game winless run on Sunday, when they play host to Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer action.
Matias Almeyda's side will hope to bounce back from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Orlando City on Thursday, while their opponents narrowly beat Vancouver Whitecaps in their last outing.
Match preview
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San Jose Earthquakes come into this game in a poor run of form, having collected just one point from their last six MLS games.
That point came on their return from the three-week international break, having lost the previous four matches, as they played out a goalless draw with Austin FC.
While Almeyda's men will have hoped that result would trigger a turn in form, they immediately suffered another loss last time out, as they were comfortably beaten by Orlando City.
Nani opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes before Benji Michel and Daryl Dike netted two goals each to condemn the Quakes to a heavy defeat.
After taking a high position in the Western Conference early in the season with three wins from their opening four matches, the San Jose outfit have quickly dropped down the table as a result of their poor form, now occupying 10th spot with just a three-point lead over basement side FC Dallas.
On the other hand, they remain just two points behind seventh-placed Real Salt Lake, meaning Almeyda's men could quickly move back into the playoff places if they can turn their form around, and they will hope that Sunday marks a new start with a victory.
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Their opponents will be on the hunt for a second straight win after narrowly defeating Vancouver Whitecaps last time out.
LA Galaxy led through Javier Hernandez, but a Janio Bikel goal in the second minute of added time looked to have stolen a point for Vancouver, until Efrain Alvarez immediately restored the lead in the 93rd minute to seal all three points.
That was an important return to winning ways for Greg Vanney's side after a narrow 2-1 defeat to unbeaten Conference leaders Seattle Sounders in their first game since returning from the break.
Before the international break, Galaxy picked up a 1-0 win over Sunday's opponents, as a Tanner Beason own goal in the 70th minute sealed San Jose Earthquakes' fate.
With six wins from their opening nine games, LA Galaxy sit in a strong position in the Western Conference, currently occupying third spot, and they could quickly break into the top two considering they have two games in hand on second-placed Sporting Kansas City, who sit just two points ahead.
Vanney will definitely see this as a decent opportunity to build another winning run, as they take on a San Jose side low on confidence.
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Team News
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Matias Almeyda is expected to shuffle his deck after San Jose's poor performance and heavy defeat last time out.
Centre-back Tanner Beason may be brought into the starting lineup in place of Florian Jungwirth.
Both full-backs could be altered too, after Tommy Thompson and Paul Marie were both substituted off in that defeat having struggled to deal with the Orlando City attack.
LA Galaxy will remain without Jalen Neal, who has been sidelined with an injury for the entirety of the season so far.
They will be boosted by the return of centre-back Derrick Williams, who served the final match of his three-game suspension last time out for a straight red card shown in May.
Javier Hernandez will lead the line with plenty of confidence, having taken his tally to eight MLS goals for the season alongside two assists in nine league appearances with the opening goal against Vancouver last time out.
Meanwhile, attacker Efrain Alvarez will hope that his winning goal off the bench is enough to earn him a spot back in the starting XI.
San Jose Earthquakes possible starting lineup:
Marcinkowski; Abecasis, Beason, Alanis, Salinas; Silva, Yueill; Lopez, Wondolowski, Espinoza; Rios
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Araujo, Williams, Coulibaly, Villafana; Kljestan, Lletget, Dos Santos; Alvarez, Hernandez, Cabral
We say: San Jose Earthquakes 0-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
Given the form of the two sides so far this season, we only see Sunday's clash going one way, with LA Galaxy expected to record a fairly comfortable win to extend their impressive start to the campaign.
The Earthquakes' defence looked weak in their recent thrashing at the hands of Orlando, and that could be exploited by a quality front line including Hernandez, who has featured in 10 goals in nine MLS games so far this season.
Top tip
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 San Jose Earthquakes win with a probability of 53.08%. A win for Los Angeles Galaxy had a probability of 24.11% and a draw had a probability of 22.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a San Jose Earthquakes win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.05%) and 2-0 (8.34%). The likeliest Los Angeles Galaxy win was 1-2 (6.21%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.59%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 2.4% likelihood.
