San Diego FC vs LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy head to Snapdragon Stadium to take on the newest Major League Soccer franchise, San Diego FC, seeking revenge for a 2-0 defeat in February’s reverse fixture. 

Despite being new to the competition, it’s been a superb start to MLS life for San Diego as they sit third in the Western Conference, only four points adrift of pacesetters Vancouver Whitecaps. A scoreless home draw against Sporting Kansas City knocked them down from a three-game winning league streak. However, it marked their third clean sheet in four MLS matches, highlighting Mikey Varas’ backline as the team’s foundation for early success. Particularly impressive on home turf, they’ve only lost once in eight MLS fixtures here (W4, D3), with only two teams in the Western Conference picking up more home points than San Diego’s 15. Remarkably, all four victories have seen SDFC score 2+ goals at an average of 3.25 per game, with the last three coming without a reply. 

Keen to throw a spanner in San Diego’s outstanding debut campaign, LA Galaxy can take confidence from pulling off a late comeback to hold fierce rivals LAFC to a 2-2 draw last time out. However, that result only served to halt their dreadful five-game losing streak in MLS. Greg Vanney’s side failed to score in three of those five defeats, including a humiliating 7-0 loss at New York Red Bulls earlier this month. That embarrassment forms part of Galaxy’s disastrous away league record this season (D2, L6), making them the only team in the Western Conference yet to win on hostile turf. Moreover, they’ve conceded a conference-high 19 goals on the road!