Sports Mole previews Thursday's Major League Soccer clash between Los Angeles Galaxy and Dallas, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Struggling Dallas travel to Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday to face Los Angeles Galaxy in gameweek 12 of the 2021 Major League Soccer season.

Galaxy have picked up 21 points from their first 11 games, placing them in third spot in the Western Conference, meanwhile Dallas sit one place off the foot of the table having only managed two wins so far.

Match preview

Los Angeles Galaxy forward Javier Hernandez celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal on June 27, 2021 © Reuters

LA Galaxy have not managed to win more than two consecutive games this season, and continued that streak after losing to Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.

Greg Vanney's side were without former Manchester United striker and Galaxy top goalscorer Javier Hernandez for that game, as he was forced to withdraw from the squad just prior to kickoff.

The Mexican's absence made Galaxy's task even greater, coming up against a Sporting KC side that had scored an MLS-high of 24 goals this year, and the home side could not hold onto a point.

Johnny Russell opened the scoring on Sunday just nine minutes from time before Khiry Shelton sealed the victory for the league leaders five minutes into stoppage time.

Galaxy are still well within touching distance of Sporting KC, only sitting five points behind the table-toppers with two games in hand, and will be looking to vastly improve on their 10th-placed finish last year.

FC Dallas head coach Luchi Gonzalez on May 30, 2021 © Reuters

Dallas have only recorded two victories this season, with their second impressively coming last Monday against Eastern Conference leaders New England.

Eighteen-year-old Ricardo Pepi was the Dallas hero that day as his brace sealed a 2-1 victory for the Texas-based side at the Toyota Stadium.

However, Luchi Gonzalez's side failed to capitalise on those three points last time out, when they had to settle for a 2-2 draw against fellow strugglers Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Whitecaps were closing in on taking three points back home with them, but Ranko Veselinovic scored an own goal deep into stoppage time at the end of the second half.

Dallas are quite some way off their performances from last year, when they finished the season in sixth spot in the Western Conference, with their away form letting them down, having not picked up a single point this season away from Frisco.

Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer form:

Dallas Major League Soccer form:

Team News

Greg Vanney, now in charge of Los Angeles Galaxy (LA Galaxy), pictured in November 2020 © Reuters

LA Galaxy centre-back Daniel Steres is ruled out of Thursday's clash with a hamstring injury, having come off after eight minutes against Seattle Sounders two weeks ago.

Fellow central defender Derrick Williams is also unavailable as he continues to serve his suspension after picking up a straight red card in Galaxy's 3-0 defeat against Portland on May 22.

Nick DePuy and Sega Coulibaly have been Vanney's pick in the middle of defence in recent matches, but Galaxy's shortage in that position was further exacerbated as midfielder Adam Saldana replaced Coulibaly before half time during their last game.

Galaxy will be handed a big boost if Hernandez can recover from the injury that ruled him out of the last game, as he is their biggest threat in front of goal.

Dallas have injury concerns of their own, as goalkeeper Kyle Zobeck remains an absentee and centre-back Matt Hedges has not featured since the end of May with a hip injury. Both players are expected to recover this July.

Youngsters Thomas Roberts and Beni Redzic are also sidelined for Dallas, and they could make their returns towards the end of this month.

Pepi is leading the way for Dallas in terms of goalscoring, netting five in the opening 10 matches, including four goals in his last four games.

Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
Bond; Villafana, DePuy, Saldana, Araujo; Raveloson, Lletget; Cabral, Vazquez, Grandsir; Hernandez

Dallas possible starting lineup:
Maurer; Nelson, Burgess, Bressan, Che; Acosta, Quignon; Hollingshead, Ferreira, Obrian; Pepi

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We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 Dallas

Dallas' away form suggests that Galaxy should claim three points on Thursday, and after putting themselves in a series final playoff place with their start to the season, a game against a side lingering at the bottom of the table needs to be capitalised on by LA Galaxy.

Vanney's side's previous three defeats this season have all been followed up with a positive response and three points, which is likely to continue this week after their fourth defeat last time out.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

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 40.46%. A win for Dallas had a probability of 33.03% and a draw had a probability of 26.5%.

The most likely scoreline for a Los Angeles Galaxy win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.47%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.58%) and 2-0 (7.13%). The likeliest Dallas win was 0-1 (9.26%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.6%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Los Angeles Galaxy would win this match.