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Chivas USA-Sounders Preview

The Seattle Sounders are no doubt fatigued. They still have to like their chances of avoiding their first three-game MLS slide this weekend.

The Sounders are unbeaten in their last 13 meetings with lowly Chivas USA, including seven straight wins heading into Saturday's home matchup.

Seattle (17-9-3) is in the midst of a grueling stretch. The Sounders won the U.S. Open Cup final in Philadelphia on Sept. 16, fell 4-1 at New York last Saturday and 3-1 at FC Dallas on Wednesday.

"It's good to be able to go home and get rid of all the distractions on the road, for guys to be able to sleep in their own beds for a couple nights," coach Sigi Schmid said. "We haven't been home. We left early Sunday morning on whatever that was, the 14th."

The Sounders suffered a blow Wednesday when defender Zach Scott left in the 32nd minute with an ankle injury in his 300th appearance with the club.

"I think losing Zach Scott hurt us," Schmid said. "Zach's been a very solid part of our defense, he got bumped in the air. I'm not happy with that play, that was something that was going on all night where we were taking shots off the ball a little bit.

"But that's the way it's going to be in the playoffs, and so we have to be a little bit tougher, a little meaner, maybe a little dirtier at times."

Schmid didn't say how he plans to rotate his team in this glut of matches. The Sounders are enjoying a 9-0-4 run against Chivas USA (6-17-6) with a 19-7 edge in goals over seven straight wins.

Chivas is mired in an 0-10-1 stretch since July 20 in which it has been outscored 27-3. This is the club's longest single-season winless stretch since going 0-10-4 last year.

The minus-31 goal difference for Chivas is 13 worse than the closest team.

"Unfortunately we're going through a tough stretch here and the only ones that are going to get us out of this is ourselves," goalkeeper Dan Kennedy told Chivas' official website. "We got to stick together and just continue to work and know that we can turn this thing around in one game."

One positive for Chivas is Erick Torres will return from a two-game suspension. Torres, fifth in the league with 14 goals, hasn't played for his club since Aug. 31 since he missed two games while with Mexico's national team.

Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey have combined for 25 goals and 16 assists for the Sounders. Martins has four goals and two assists in four career games versus Chivas.

Seattle is tied with Los Angeles in the race for the Supporters' Shield with 54 points.

"Everything's still in our own hands," Schmid said. "If we win our home games, we put ourselves in a very good situation. We've got three home games left out of five and the first one is Saturday. We've got to be ready to win that one."

The Sounders are 9-1-1 in MLS play in Seattle since April 26, and 4-0-2 all-time against Chivas at home.

Chivas hasn't scored in 300 straight minutes overall and 456 on the road.

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