Everything you need to know about Sounders-San Diego FC

The Seattle Sounders will face another struggling opponent when they host San Diego FC tonight at 7:30 PM. While San Diego’s eight-game winless run in MLS play may suggest this is a bad team, it’s important to note that their underlying numbers suggest they are considerably better than that. This is still a team that generates a lot of high-quality chances, but has been burned repeatedly by untimely red cards and is in a bit of an injury crisis.

Here’s what you need to know:

Injury news

Sounders

OUT: Pedro de la Vega — Knee; Nikola Petković — Knee; Yeimar Gómez Andrade — Hamstring

San Diego

OUT: Emmanuel Boateng- Lower Body; CJ Dos Santos — Head; William Kumado — Lower Body; Lewis Morgan — Lower Body; Pablo Sisniega — Lower Back; Jeppe Tverskov — Lower Body

Opposition players to watch

Anders Dreyer: While not quite up to his near-MVP status of a year ago, Dreyer remains one of the top attacking players in MLS with five goals and five primary assists. Dreyer is an absolute handful on the right side of San Diego’s attack and can beat defenses with the ball or running in behind.

Marcus Ingvartsen: After missing most of last year, the Danish forward is among the league leaders with seven goals scored this year. He’s a classic No. 9, who isn’t afraid to mix it up physically.

Stats to look smart

63.3%: While the results have not been what they were a year ago, San Diego still effectively plays the exact same away. In fact, with an average of 63.3% of possession this year, they have even more of the ball than last year when they became the first team in MLS history to eclipse 60% posssession.

.08: The average shot the Sounders allow is worth just .08 xG, the lowest mark in the league.

Tactics to impress

While San Diego likes to have the ball as much as ever, they are not nearly as aggressive with their press as they were last year. This team is much more likely to slowly build out of the back and then drop into a midblock than they are to be the all-action team they were last year.
Similar things can be said for the Sounders, but it’s hard to say if that’s more a product of their road-heavy schedule than a real mentality change. At home, they tend to play much more aggressively and may try to force San Diego into some mistakes.