The 20th instalment of 'El Trafico' takes place at Rose Bowl on Tuesday night as the Los Angeles Galaxy host local adversaries Los Angeles FC in a Fourth of July MLS offering.
Greg Vanney's charges enter the derby on the back of an enthralling 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, while their 'visitors' were subjected to a 2-0 loss to Dallas.
Match preview
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As an extratropical cyclone caused widespread devastation across the United States in February, the Los Angeles derby was one of many sporting events to fall victim to the elements, as the two Californian counterparts lock horns once again a little later than planned.
Some members of the Galaxy faithful may have welcomed the postponement given their side's springtime woes, and while Vanney's side have since proven to be a tougher nut to crack, converting one point into three has not been their forte.
Following a trio of successive draws with St Louis City, Sporting KC and Colorado Rapids, the Galaxy shared the spoils for the fourth time in a row on Saturday against the Earthquakes, taking the lead twice through Raheem Edwards and Preston Judd and losing their advantage twice as Jack Skahan and Cristian Espinoza restored parity for the hosts.
While their respectable MLS unbeaten streak now stands at five matches, Vanney's side are still entrenched in the Western Conference basement, sitting in an unlucky 13th place - just two points above Colorado, who are also the only side worse off than the Galaxy in the Supporters' Shield standings.
A paltry tally of three wins all season long can be blamed for their precarious standing, and while two of those successes have come in front of their own fans at Dignity Health Sports Park, both the Galaxy and their faltering foes will be on neutral ground at Rose Bowl.
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The glass-half-full Los Angeles FC fans may have believed that their out-of-sorts side had turned a corner in June with back-to-back successes over Sporting KC and Seattle Sounders, but Steve Cherundolo's side have since slipped back into old habits.
After being seen off 3-2 on home soil by the Vancouver Whitecaps, Los Angeles' defensive deficiencies plagued them once more during a sojourn to Dallas, where Bernard Kamungo and Samuel Junqua were on target for the Texan crop.
With just two wins and a CONCACAF Champions League final defeat to Leon to their name from their last 10 matches, the reigning MLS champions are going through the stickiest of sticky patches but still sit second in the Western Conference, three points adrift of table-topping St Louis City.
The Black and Gold's miserable spell actually began with a 2-0 U.S. Open Cup defeat to Los Angeles Galaxy on May 24, prior to which they had triumphed in three successive editions of El Trafico, and Fourth of July fireworks can be expected to fly between these two bitter rivals.
Team News
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Still without the services of veteran Mexican attacker Javier Hernandez - who is on the long road to recovery from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament - LA Galaxy will be relying on two-goal American Judd to replicate his feats from the weekend at Rose Bowl.
By scoring just his second goal of the campaign last time out, Judd may have done enough to keep Dejan Joveljic at bay, although the Serbian's four goals in El Trafico is the joint-second most for the Galaxy behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic (nine).
Memo Rodriguez (thigh) and Martin Caceres (knee) are also sidelined for the hosts, who are poised to continue with Edwards at left-back over 20-year-old Julian Aude.
As for Los Angeles FC, centre-back Aaron Long is yet to return from his international exploits with the United States, while Sergi Palencia, Jesus Murillo and Maxime Crepeau make up a trio of injury-related absentees.
Amid criticism over his perceived poor performances in recent weeks, Carlos Vela only came on as a second-half substitute against Dallas, but the ex-Arsenal man - who leads the way in El Trafico goals with 12 to his name - ought to come back in here.
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Calegari, Leerdam, Mavinga, Edwards; Delgado, Brugman, Puig; Costa, Judd, Boyd
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Hollingshead, Maldonado, Chiellini, Palacios; Cifuentes, Sanchez, Crisostomo; Vela, Bouanga, Biuk
We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 2-2 Los Angeles FC
No matter the territory, Los Angeles Galaxy have shown quite the affinity for sharing the spoils in recent weeks, and they are no stranger to high-scoring affairs in El Trafico.
Having scored at least twice in each of their last six Los Angeles showdowns, Vanney's side can feel optimistic of doing so again - especially with Los Angeles FC leaking goals at an alarming rate - but with bragging rights and their podium spot at stake, we can envisage the champions earning a point in another entertaining derby.
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Top tip
Ben Knapton
