Los Angeles FC can extend their unbeaten run at home to six games when they host Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday at Banc of California Stadium.
The Black-and-Gold conceded an injury-time goal to draw Minnesota United 2-2 in their last fixture, while KC came up short versus Dallas, losing 2-1.
Match preview
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LA continue to squander opportunities to move up the table, with only two points over their last three games, all matches in which manager Bob Bradley knows three points were there for the taking.
Injury time did them in once again last Wednesday as Hassani Dotson scored with virtually the last kick of the match for the Loons, the second time in three games that LA had conceded in the dying minutes of a match.
Scoring has certainly not been a problem for this team lately as they have multiple goals in four of their last five fixtures, but they have also conceded multiple goals in three successive games.
They seem to be able to take control of a match early on, scoring a first-half goal in five consecutive matches, but it seems that the later a game gets, the more fatigued or overwhelmed they become, and that was the case the last time they faced Kansas City, as they conceded the winning goal in the 87th minute.
This team are in an interesting position, currently fifth in the conference, but they are only four points ahead of the Portland Timbers, who are outside of the playoff picture at the moment, so they will want to start winning some games to give themselves some more breathing room.
Starting on Wednesday, they play four games in 17 days, so they will need to stay sharp and find a way to fight through what could be a tiring stretch, although their next three fixtures following this one are against non-playoff teams, so there are plenty of points available.
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Kansas City blew an opportunity to move into first in the Western Conference this past weekend, as they were beaten by Dallas 2-1, snapping an 11-game unbeaten run at Children's Mercy Park.
Their 400th regular-season home match last Saturday was not the most memorable, as the Wizards conceded in the third minute and were uncharacteristically disjointed in the first half, and they did not really settle into the game until going down 2-0.
After handing Seattle their first home defeat of the season, 3-1, Peter Vermes had to be disappointed with their play as he missed an opportunity to earn his 200th career victory with KC across all competitions.
What has to be discouraging for Vermes and his team is that they have squandered eight points versus beatable teams like the San Jose Earthquakes, Dallas and the Houston Dynamo, and when competing for the top spot in the league, those are games that you have to win.
They will be feeling good about their chances on the road, though, where they have won their last two encounters, conceding only once while scoring five goals.
This team have not lost successive fixtures all year, and with Seattle struggling, they know that they have a great opportunity to potentially move into first in the Western Conference if they can get back to winning ways.
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Team News
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LA will be without Kwadwo Opoku with a left knee injury, while Eddie Segura has a right knee problem and is unlikely to see the field.
Bradley made one change to the starting 11 last Wednesday from their previous match, starting Diego Palacios at left-back instead of Raheem Edwards, while striker Carlos Vela has a goal in four successive games as he is now tied with Diego Rossi and Jose Cifuentes for the team lead with five on the season.
Jesus Murillo has been invaluable in central defence with 35 interceptions, the second-most in the league, while goalkeeper Tomas Romero has conceded seven goals in his last four starts.
Alan Pulido and Gianluca Busio are back from their international duty with Mexico and the US at the Gold Cup, while Amadou Dia and Grayson Barber remain sidelined due to health and safety protocols.
Felipe Hernandez is not with the team for personal reasons, and Cameron Duke has a hamstring problem and will likely miss once again.
Johnny Russell has goals in back-to-back fixtures, his first two of this campaign, while Jaylin Lindsey, Kaveh Rad, Wilson Harris, and Felipe Hernandez have accounted for 15 of the 29 goals KC scored this year and nine of their 23 assists.
Los Angeles FC possible starting lineup:
Romero; Kim, Blackmon, Murillo, Farfan, Edwards; Blessing, Atuesta, Cifuentes; Vela, Rossi
Sporting Kansas City possible starting lineup:
Melia; Lindsey, Rad, Fontas, Martins; Espinoza, Walter, Kinda; Russell, Pulido, Salloi
We say: Los Angeles FC 1-2 Sporting Kansas City
Los Angeles are a tough team to play at home, and they have plenty of firepower to match a well-balanced Kansas City side, but they seem to struggle when it comes to maintaining that high intensity throughout a full 90-minutes.
Kansas City might have just had their worst outing of the season, but they know how to bounce back, and they have always been at their best against teams in the top half of the table, having yet to lose to a team currently in a playoff position.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
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 FC win with a probability of 52.13%. A win for Sporting Kansas City had a probability of 24.13% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Los Angeles FC win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.19%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.72%) and 2-0 (8.83%). The likeliest Sporting Kansas City win was 0-1 (6.48%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.22%). The actual scoreline of 1-4 was predicted with a 0.6% likelihood.
