FULLTIME: The Sounders settled for a 0-0 draw against a short-handed LA Galaxy, marking the second time this year they’ve failed to score against one of the league’s worst defenses.

LINEUPS: Obed Vargas will start at right mid, while Cristian Roldan will replace his brother at right back in the Sounders’ starting lineup against the LA Galaxy. On the bench, Reed Baker-Whiting will be available for the first time this year along with Georgi Minoungou, who is on a short-term loan from Tacoma Defiance. Osaze De Rosario and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi were also placed on short-term loans from the Defiance, although only Minoungou is actually eligible to play.

Say this for the LA Galaxy: they rarely fail to entertain. All but one of their games this year has featured multiple goals — and that was their 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders in their previous meeting about a month ago. The Galaxy have scored at least three goals in half of their games and only been shutout once — last week’s 2-0 loss to Austin FC — while allowing multiple goals six times.

Their resurgent offense has been enough to lift them to the top of the Western Conference standings, but they’ll be without two of their most important players on Sunday. Riqui Puig is out with yellow-card accumulation while Dejan Joveljic is out with an injury. Between them, they’ve contributed nine goals and six assists and neither have particularly productive backups.

The Sounders should be about as close to full strength as they’ve been all year, with the caveat that Alex Roldan is still out on his red-card suspension.

Notes

The Sounders are 5-0-3 at home against the LA Galaxy since their last home loss against them on July 9, 2016.
Jordan Morris and Raúl Ruidíaz each have nine career goals against the Galaxy, tied with Robbie Keane for the most in this series’ history.
The Galaxy have scored the second most goals in MLS (21), but have allowed seven of their 17 goals on set-pieces.