Everything you need to know ahead of Galaxy-Sounders

The Seattle Sounders have put together three straight performances in which they could have conceivably won. They have not actually won any of them and will head into tonight’s game against the LA Galaxy on a franchise-record 11-game winless run. If they are to maintain any realistic hopes of making the playoffs, they’ll almost certainly need three points against the Galaxy.

Here’s what you need to know:

Injury news

Sounders

OUT: Pedro de la Vega (quad); Jesús Ferreira (hamstring); Yeimar Gómez Andrade (calf); Nikola Petkovic (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (ankle); Jackson Ragen (knee)

Galaxy

OUT: Elijah Wynder (ankle)

QUESTIONABLE: Joseph Paintsil (thigh)

Opposition players to watch

Marco Reus: The 37-year-old midfielder is now in his third season with the Galaxy and is now arguably their most important offensive player. Reus leads the team with five goals and six assists while also logging more than 1,600 minutes, the second most of any outfield player on the team.

JT Marcinkowski: The Galaxy have been a pretty middling defensive team this year, but that’s mostly because the play of their goalkeeper. Marcinkowski has “prevented” 8.2 goals this year, according to Opta, which is the third most in MLS (Andrew Thomas currently leads with 9.1).

Stats to look smart

-5.83: The Galaxy have under-performed their xG by 5.83 goals, which ranks as the third highest total in the league.

8.25: The Sounders’ have scored on just 8.25% of their shots, which is the lowest conversion rate in MLS this year.

Tactics to impress

If there’s one thing Greg Vanney seem to hate more than anything else, it’s crosses. the Galaxy currently rank last in the league in both attempted and completed crosses. Instead, they seem to want to play through the middle with Reus asked to pick apart defenses.
Once a staple of how Schmetzer wanted to play, the Sounders have de-emphasized the press most of the year. That might change against the Galaxy, who thrive when given time and struggled against the Whitecaps in their midweek encounter.