New England Revolution vs Los Angeles Galaxy Betting Picks

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New England Revolution vs Los Angeles Galaxy Prediction

Both teams will come into this game thinking they should be much higher on the table due to the level of expectation that surrounds them each season, but they are currently battling mid-table for the playoff spots in their respective conferences.

The Los Angeles Galaxy are just inside at the moment and the New England Revolution are just outside, but a few games could change things for both sides. The margins are really tight at the moment and neither team can afford to drop points. It should be a tense encounter with the two teams having faced each other 32 times so far, New England Revolution 13 times, Los Angeles Galaxy 12 times and seven games ending in a draw. There’s little between these two teams historically, but Los Angeles Galaxy at its best is the better team. It looks like they might top this one.

Previous meetings

LA Galaxy have won the last two meetings between these teams and were comfortably 4-0 winners in February in a club friendly. At the time, New England Revolution didn’t look ready for the MLS season but made a steady comeback to give themselves every chance of making the playoffs.

Victory could give LA Galaxy a psychological edge ahead of that tie, but there will be a lot more at stake when they face off this time around.

The New England Revolution suffers a heavy defeat

The New England Revolution’s five-game unbeaten streak came to an end after a 4-0 loss to CF Montreal last weekend. Whatever momentum last season’s Supporters Shield winners built, it came to an abrupt end after Romell Quioto, Kei Kamara and Matko Milijevic put them to the sword.

New England haven’t been good away from home all season and CF Montreal have been one of the in-form teams in the league, so it’s no big surprise things went downhill for the first. New England’s defensive organization was extremely poor that day, conceding 18 shots including seven on target. They will need to quickly put this game behind them and show some resilience against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

New England must reorganize

Gustavo Bou and Adam Buksa remain the New England Revolution’s top scorers this season with seven goals each. The former has been out since May and the latter joined Lens in Ligue 1. No more information is needed to understand why the New England Revolution have struggled this season. They had a record 71 points last season, but are a completely different team without the players who helped them get there last season.

This cycle is over and they have to put together a new team. It will take time and Bou’s eventual return should help the team but with no return date set, they will have to find new solutions if they want to make the playoffs.

Need to be more flexible

One of the problems with the team all season has been their inflexibility without the players who made them so strong last season. It’s one thing to stick to a philosophy, but a few tweaks to this setup until they find the perfect replacements shouldn’t be that hard.

Their underlying numbers don’t suggest they’ll make the playoffs just yet. They scored 38 with an expected goals tally of 34.2 and conceded 40 with expected goals against a tally of 38.2. They hope the home advantage heading into this game will propel them forward, but that won’t be enough to qualify for the playoffs.

Injuries and suspensions

Gustavo Bou has been out since May with a leg injury.

LA Galaxy all over the pollsters

A late penalty from Dejan Joveljic gave LA Galaxy a crucial point against the Sounders last weekend in a thrilling 3-3 draw, but the team will have been disappointed to have taken a 2-0 lead in the first half before collapsing in the second half.

On the positive side, Riqui Puig made his first appearance for the club off the bench after signing for Barcelona.

Riqui Puig should give the team some control in midfield

Puig couldn’t find regular playing time at Barcelona during a few difficult seasons for the club, but his talent was never in doubt. A La Masia graduate, he shares many of the characteristics of a Barcelona player, including his ability to dribble out of trouble, his short passing game and his willingness to defend from the front. His physique was sometimes seen as a problem at the top level of European football, but he shouldn’t have any trouble dealing with that in MLS.

He seemed quite excited about the news and claimed that many young players will join MLS over the next few years and that it has the potential to become one of the best in the world.

The goals are coming

The team have scored 12 goals in their last four games which is a very encouraging sign as they have underperformed on expected goals all season. Even now, they have only scored 40 goals out of an expected goal value of 43.2. A little luck in a few games should even that out and it looks like LA Galaxy consistently finds the back of the net at exactly the right time with so much at stake.

Injuries and suspensions

Left-back Jorge Villafana has been out since March with a knee problem and has undergone surgery. There is no scheduled return date.

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