Los Angeles Galaxy go in search of a third straight victory when they welcome Dallas to the Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.
On the other hand, Dallas will be looking to get back to winning ways straight away having suffered a first defeat in 10 matches last time out.
Match preview
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Los Angeles Galaxy saw off the threat of California United in a thrilling 3-2 contest to secure safe passage into the next round of the US Open Cup.
After falling behind to Shinya Kadono's opener, Greg Vanney's men turned the game around thanks to two goals from Dejan Joveljic either side of Owen Lambe's strike before Kevin Garcia pulled one back for his side late on.
Before that, the Galaxy claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Austin FC in their last league outing and now sit third in the Western Conference, four points behind city rivals and current leaders Los Angeles FC,
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are yet to emerge victorious in any of their last three visits dating back to 2019.
Having won three straight home matches leading up to this weekend, Sunday's hosts head into the clash with the wind in their sails, and they will certainly take some stopping.
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Dallas were knocked out of the US Open Cup in dramatic fashion following a 4-2 defeat to Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday.
Nico Estevez's men stormed to a two-goal lead through Franco Jara and Eddie Munjoma before conceding second-half goals to Nikola Vujnovic and Marinos Tzionis which forced extra time where a Khiry Shelton strike and an Edwin Cerrillo own goal completed the turnaround.
The Burn got the better of Seattle Sounders in their most recent league involvement and now sit fourth in the Western Conference, level on points with this weekend's opponents.
However, Sunday's visitors have been poor away from home to say the least, as they still await their first triumph on the road this term.
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Team News
Twenty-year-old Adam Saldana remains ruled out through an ankle problem which has seen him fail to feature this term.
Victor Vazquez is also unavailable for Los Angeles Galaxy, having missed the last six games with a knee injury.
Despite failing to find the back of the net in his last five outings, Javier Hernandez is expected to lead the line once again.
While the aforementioned Hernandez is going through a goal drought, Dallas' Jesus Ferreira has continued to find the back of the net, and the American sits joint-top with Sebastian Driussi at the top of the scoring charts.
Jose Martinez is his side's only guaranteed absentee for Sunday's clash, as the defender will serve a suspension off the back of receiving a red card last time out.
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Edwards, Williams, Coulibaly, Araujo; Delgado, Raveloson; Costa, Alvarez, Cabral; Hernandez
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Paes; Twumasi, Hedges, Munjoma, Farfan; Pomykal, Quignon, Ntsabeleng; Arriola, Ferreira, Velasco
We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Dallas
With just goal difference separating the sides in the league table, we anticipate an open and end-to-end affair with chances at both ends. Having said that, we are also tipping the home side to carry the day, albeit by only a narrow margin.
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 54.05%. A draw had a probability of 23.1% and a win for Dallas had a probability of 22.89%.
The most likely scoreline for a Los Angeles Galaxy win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.82%) and 2-0 (8.96%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.85%), while for a Dallas win it was 0-1 (6.01%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 2.2% likelihood.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
