An all-Western Conference clash between 7th placed Houston Dynamo and conference leaders, Los Angeles is up next at the BBVA Stadium on Friday night with an important 3 points at stake for both teams.
For Houston Dynamo, this clash represents another tough challenge for the hosts as they’ve lost 5 of their last 7 matches overall in the MLS, with an impending visit from Los Angeles on the very near horizon.
Recent defeats to Minnesota United, Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, New England Revolution and Cincinnati doesn’t make for very positive reading if you’re a Houston Dynamo fan.
However, Houston have reason to be confident ahead of this upcoming clash with Los Angeles as they’re still unbeaten on home turf at their BBVA Stadium this season.
7 wins and 3 draws so far on home soil still make Houston Dynamo a dangerous outfit in their own backyard, and they stand a good chance of further adding to their points tally here on Friday night.
Before we get too carried away though, they’re playing the conference leaders, and the goal markets look appealing - 8 of Houston’s 10 home matches have seen both teams score.
Onto Los Angeles, and as mentioned previously, the visitors sit top of the Western Conference with a comfortable looking 9-point cushion over 2nd placed local rivals, LA Galaxy, prior to this Friday night clash in Houston.
Recent results have confirmed Los Angeles’ stranglehold on the conference as they’ve posted 6 wins from their last 8 matches overall in the MLS, which includes wins against Columbus Crew, Dallas, Montreal Impact, Portland Timbers, Sporting Kansas and Vancouver Whitecaps.
This last 8-match sequence has seen Los Angeles score a total of 24 goals but they’ve also conceded 8 in reply too.
Los Angeles’s results away from home though have given their opponents a chance of notching against them as they’ve won 5, drawn 3 and lost 2 to date on their travels, while 5 of their 10 away matches have also seen both teams score.
As Los Angeles are a new franchise club to the MLS, there’s limited sample size in terms of data, but the previous 3 encounters between Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles have seen both teams score in each of these previous encounters.
The both teams to score trend looks set to continue on Friday night too.