MLS: LAFC vs. DC United Preview, Odds, Prediction

LAFC hosts DC United in the opening game of this week’s MLS round. Steve Cherundolo’s crew takes on the injury-crippled guests, who are currently in a very difficult position. They are trying to get away from the bottom of the standings and avoid a humiliating season, but simply all the circumstances are against them. Wayne Rooney’s arrival brought a win, but the team from the capital couldn’t get any consistency and keep on with the positive results. As for LAFC, they are confident and currently top the West, chasing another Supporters’ Shield trophy.

Preview

LAFC (-300) has six straight wins in the MLS, eight in the last nine games, with the sole loss coming in Vancouver, 1-0 back in early July. After that they went on to win six in a row, in all of them scoring at least twice, proving that they are the most dominant offensive team in the league.

With Gareth Bale upfront they will be even more terrifying, we only need to see the Welshman reaching his form. On the other end, LAFC has the Italian veteran center-back Giorgio Chiellini who is in good shape and immediately started contributing.

Over the recent two MLS contests, the FC netted nine times, beating RSL on the road, 1-4 and Charlotte at home, 5-0, showing flawless performance in both of these events.

DC United (+1000) won one game since Rooney took over the wheel, 2-1 against Orlando City, and after that couldn’t repeat that in three straight events. Furthermore, they couldn’t net a single goal during those 270 minutes.

At first, DC was defeated in Charlotte, 3-0 then played 0-0 at home with the Red Bulls before losing narrowly on the road against the New England Revolution, 1-0. The team recently acquired the Belgian striker, Christian Benteke, hoping that he might solve the problems in the offense

As for the events away from home, DC has been terrible lately, losing four in a row with a combined goal difference of 0-13. Now, that is how bad this team is.

Latest News

Julian Gaines is injured, and he is the only player who won’t be in the protocol for the home unit.

On the other side, the situation is complicated. Benteke is out, Hamid, Hines-Ike, Odoi-Atsem, Perez, and Smith also, meaning that Rooney certainly has headaches before this event.

Head to Head Games

There was a friendly game between these two teams in February this year and DC won 0-2. The most recent competitive event was in April 2019 with the LAFC smashing the United in DC, 0-4.

Prediction

At the moment, the FC is at least one class above the guests who are still facing a lot of problems in their game. There couldn’t be a better opportunity for the hosts to notch easy three points than this one. We aren’t underestimating DC in any way, but still, let’s be realistic and say that the team from the US capital is weaker than the rivals. Our pick here would be LAFC to win and to cover a -1.5 spread. The odds on that are very good -120.

Pick: LAFC -1.5 -120