San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas was eager to talk up the significance of their local derby at home to the LA Galaxy this weekend.

Despite being the MLS's newest expansion team, Varas knows that there is plenty at stake for his side when taking on the Western Conference's bottom side, who are still seeking their first win of the season. 

"It's a regional derby. You can see it means so much to the community. These are always special games; at the end of the day, they're champs. They're champs until somebody else wins a final," he told a press conference.

"They'll have eight or nine guys starting the match that won the MLS Cup. They'll have probably marked this game on their calendar for a while, especially after the first game of the season, so they're going to come with everything.

"They're a very good team, so our job is to prepare ourselves mentally, physically, technically, tactically, to make sure that we're up to the challenge at hand, and that's what we always do."

When asked about the difference between his San Diego team now and the one that kicked off the MLS campaign, Varas suggested that the time they had spent together has improved them as a unit.

"At the end of the day, we've held true to our value of having a growth mindset," he said.

"I see the group has grown a lot, and I see individual players have grown a lot.

"The most important thing is that we continue to improve, looking at how that helps us with this next game and how that helps us in the future."

Additionally, he justified his decision to play Anders Dreyer as a central striker, following a run of three goals in four games for the Danish forward.

"Part of my job as a coach is to analyse what's happening in training, what's happening in games, how are guys making impacts? When are guys making impacts?" said Varas.

"Then put a lineup on the field that we believe will give us the best chance of winning because we're here to win, and how we win matters, and who we win with matters.

"So right now, my feeling is Anders [Dreyer] only playing as no.9 gives us the best standpoint off the start of the game."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Diego – Anders Dreyer

Dreyer is both San Diego's top scorer with six goals and the player with the most goal contributions, having laid on a further five assists.

The Danish forward has scored three goals in his last four appearances after scoring three in the opening three matches of the season.

LA Galaxy – Marco Reus

Marco Reus netted his second and third MLS goals last weekend to save a point against city rivals Los Angeles FC.

That total puts the former Germany international second in the Galaxy's top scorers this season, one behind four-goal Christian Ramirez.

MATCH PREDICTION: SAN DIEGO WIN

LA Galaxy are the first team in MLS history to go winless through their first 14 matches of a season. The Galaxy's four points are two fewer than any other team at this stage of a season in league history.

Their 14-match winless run equals the third-longest in-season winless run in MLS history. Only the Houston Dynamo (16 straight) in May-September 2021 and San Jose Earthquakes (15 straight) in August-October 2014 had longer winless runs within a single season in league history.

San Diego, meanwhile, have kept back-to-back clean sheets for the second time after also doing so in their first two MLS matches.

The hosts have conceded 11 times in their four defeats, while allowing just five total goals in their other 10 matches (W7 D3). They come into this having won three and drawn one of their last four matches.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Diego – 48.6%

Draw – 25.8%

LA Galaxy – 25.7%