LA Galaxy vs Real Salt Lake Prediction: It could be anyone’s game

Real Salt Lake will kick off their league campaign with a trip to the Dignity Health Sports Park to face LA Galaxy. LA Galaxy had a disastrous run in the Leagues Cup, crashing out in the group stages after suffering back-to-back defeats. While Real Salt Lake made it to the Round of 16 and lost 4-0 to Los Angeles FC to end their participation in the tournament.

Real Salt Lake is currently in 3rd place in the Western Conference, with 37 points from 24 games. They had 10 wins, 7 draws and 7 defeats. And LA Galaxy are 13th in the conference with 22 points from 22 matches. They had 5 wins, 7 draws and 10 defeats.

LA Galaxy had been in poor form in the league prior to the Leagues Cup tournament as the table indicates. And in the Leagues Cup, they failed to register a single win as they lost to Club Leon (1-0) and Vancouver Whitecaps (2-1) to bring their Leagues Cup journey to a halt. Now they return to the MLS league hoping to return to winning ways.

Prior to the Leagues Cup, they lost their last game in the MLS against Vancouver Whitecaps (4-2). The Whitecaps had a 3 goal lead in the first half, after Brian White’s goal in the 2nd minute and Ryan Gauld’s brace in the 10th and 23rd minutes. And then in the 61st minute Gaston Brugman pulled one goal back to LA Galaxy and Marky Delgado scored LA Galaxy’s second in the 74th minute. But Vancouver Whitecaps stretched the lead once more with another goal from Sergio Cordova in the 94th minute. LA Galaxy had 48% possession, 6 shots on target and 7 corners in that match.

Their last 5 MLS games prior to the Leagues Cup ended in 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat. They won against Los Angeles (2-1) and Philadelphia Union (3-1). While games against Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes ended in a draw (0-0) and (2-2). And then the loss was against the Vancouver Whitecaps (4-2). And at home they recorded back-to-back wins in their last 2 home games in the MLS.

Real Salt Lake’s League Cup journey came to a halt following the 4-0 defeat against Los Angeles FC in the Round of 16. They had 2 wins and 2 defeats in the tournament and now they return to the MLS hoping to return to winning ways.

Their league form prior to the Leagues Cup had been very good. They are undefeated in their last 9 MLS games and in their last 5 matches they had 3 wins and 2 draws. They played a draw against Minnesota United and Sporting Kansas City (2-2), and then won Toronto FC (1-0), Orlando City (4-0) and then their most recent match ended in a 3-1 win over New York Red Bulls. In that game, they took the lead through Diego Luna just 2 minutes into the game. And in the 53rd minute Diego Luna scored his second goal before Jefferson Savarino scored the third in the 81st minute. They conceded a goal in the 80th minute as Frankie Amaya pulled one back for The Red Bulls. Real Salt Lake recorded 56% possession, 4 shots on target and 2 corner kicks in that game.

Their away form has also been very good as they are undefeated in their last 8 away matches in the MLS. Their last 5 away games ended in 4 wins and 1 draw, with the 2-2 draw against Sporting Kansas City being the most recent away game.

LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake have played 20 matches against each other prior to this encounter. LA Galaxy won 9 matches, while Real Salt Lake won 7 matches and 4 ended in a draw.

Analysis of LA Galaxy shows they have scored 25 goals and conceded 37 goals in 22 matches this season. They scored an average of 1.1 goals per game and had a conversion rate of 8%. They take an average of 14.4 shots per game and 4.8 of those were on target. They also managed an average of 6.0 corners per game and retained 54.8% possession. They have conceded an average of 1.7 goals per game and currently have 4 clean sheets.

Analysis of Real Salt Lake shows they have scored 35 goals and conceded 34 goals in 24 matches this season. They scored an average of 1.5 goals per game and had a conversion rate of 10%. They take an average of 14.9 shots per game and 5.8 of those were on target. They also managed an average of 5.2 corners per game and retained 49.2% possession. They have conceded an average of 1.4 goals per game and currently have 6 clean sheets.

• Home Win or Draw and Over 1.5 Goals at 1.62 Odds
• Total Goals Even at 1.87 Odds
• Away Handicap (1) at 1.66 Odds