MLS Betting - Fire at Galaxy

The Los Angeles Galaxy will play their first game under new general manager and head coach Bruce Arena on ESPN 2 Thursday as they host the Chicago Fire at 10:00pm EST.

The Galaxy are winless in their last eight MLS betting games overall but they have owned the Fire of late, losing only one match at home against Chicago in the last four years.

The Galaxy have not won a match since June 14th at San Jose. They are 0-4-4 in their last eight games and have been outscored 21-12 in those soccer betting matches.

The Galaxy's longest winless streak in history is 10 games during the 2006 season. The winless streak caused owner Tim Leiweke to make a change and he brought in former U.S. national manager Bruce Arena as coach and GM.

Arena will be expected to get Los Angeles back into the playoff picture and has little time to do it. The Galaxy have just 10 games remaining in the MLS betting regular season.

"In this league there's not a big gap from top to bottom. If a team can get a couple of wins under their belt, get a couple of consecutive wins, it becomes a team with momentum and things change," said Arena. "You see it throughout the season in the league. What we need to do is get ourselves on a bit of a run where we start collecting some points and position ourselves to be in the playoffs." The Galaxy are expected to make the playoffs considering they have star players David Beckham and Landon Donovan. "When you have Landon Donovan and David Beckham, you're not that bad off. We have some good players to build this team around. We can get better and we're capable of getting enough points and qualifying for the playoffs," said Arena.

Arena has some very good experience in the MLS. He has a career record of 77-51-10 in the MLS and has won the title twice, with D.C. United in 1996 and '97.

"We have always felt that the Galaxy should aspire to be the club that sets the pace and tone in Major League Soccer," Leiweke said. "I believe Bruce sees it the same way and will put us back in that position."

The Fire are in third place in the Eastern Conference MLS betting standings, one point behind the New England Revolution and two points behind the conference leading Columbus Crew. Thursday’s game is the first of two meetings MLS betting matches between the Fire and the Galaxy this season.

The Galaxy leads the series 13-12-3. They are 7-4-3 at home against Chicago all-time.