Nashville SC vs. Los Angeles FC: Score prediction, scouting report

The last time Nashville SC traveled to Southern California, LA Galaxy right back Julian Araujo knocked them out of the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs by scoring the lone goal of the first-round game.

Seventeen months later, Nashville faces the Galaxy's El Trafico rival, Los Angeles FC, in its third interconference matchup of 2024. Unlike its previous trip, Nashville's season isn't on the line at BMO Stadium on Saturday (9:30 p.m. CT, Apple TV). This time, it's looking to avoid its first loss, not its last.

Nashville (1-0-3, six points) is tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference and enjoying its longest unbeaten streak to start MLS play since 2021. That season, Nashville won two and drew five of its first seven games before a 2-0 defeat to the New York Red Bulls.

Here's our scouting report and score prediction for Saturday:

Nashville hopes to see positives of first three weeks

Nashville faced a stretch of eight games in 24 days to open the season that included its first appearance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. That run finished last week with Nashville's elimination from the CCC at the hands of Lionel Messi's Inter Miami, followed by a 2-1 win over Charlotte FC.

The past four weeks haven't been easy, and a less condensed schedule should give Nashville time to reap some of the benefits. One of them, something coach Gary Smith alluded to after the Charlotte win, is increased confidence in the entirety of the roster. Twenty-three players have started a game, and a 2-2 draw against the LA Galaxy on March 10 featured a lineup with 10 changes from Nashville's previous game.

"I genuinely think that we're looking around the group now, maybe two, three, four players that have come out of this run that you could seriously say you're challenging for a style position regularly, not just jumping in and out," Smith said.

This has been Nashville's first full week to prepare for a game. It's a "more sensible" routine, in Smith's words, and it has meant more time to work on tactics, strategy and fostering on-field chemistry. With limited time to game-plan to start the season, those things fell by the wayside as conditioning and injury prevention were prioritized.

"It's not always about working tactically with 11 v 11," Smith said. "We break a lot of stuff down into their groups . . . We've had a little bit more of an opportunity for them to start building those relationships and reinforcing those relationships."

Balanced attack for Nashville

One positive Nashville has already seen: Through eight games, 10 players have scored goals. Creation and finishing have come from sources other than Hany Mukhtar, who either scored or assisted on two-thirds of Nashville's MLS output in 2023.

"As much as you can spread around the weight and responsibility of scoring goals, the better it's going to be," midfielder Alex Muyl said. " . . . That's been a really bright spot for us."

Much of it has been out of necessity, as Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Tyler Boyd have missed a combined eight games. Those three forwards were projected as Nashville's top attackers heading into the season, and Smith still wants them to lead the way.

While Nashville knows it can't be as dependent on Mukhtar as it has been, Smith hopes the 2022 MLS MVP can get more involved than he has been in his first three games back from a hamstring injury, during which he hasn't registered a point.

"When he is (scoring) and he's creative, we're certainly in a much more progressive position in terms of winning games," Smith said. "I'd love to see Hany and Tyler from a purely match-winning scenario, if those two guys are scoring and creative, we can continue doing what we're doing."

Slow start for Los Angeles FC

This isn't the same LAFC team that won the MLS Cup in 2022 and nearly went back-to-back last season before losing to the Columbus Crew in the final.

Former Italian international defender Giorgio Chiellini retired. Key pieces like goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, midfielder Kellyn Acosta, defender Diego Palacios and forward Carlos Vela departed (Vela remains a free agent). Per MLS.com, LAFC returns less than half of its minutes from 2023, the lowest figure of any team in the league.

Last season's Golden Boot winner, Denis Bouanga, is still LAFC's centerpiece, and the club added French international goalie Hugo Lloris and brought back onetime MLS Best XI midfielder Eduard Atuesta this offseason. But massive turnover has meant hiccups in the early going. Since a season-opening win over the Seattle Sounders at home, LAFC (1-2-1, four points) hasn't scored a goal.

MORE: Nashville SC schedule, game times for 2024 Leagues Cup group stage released

Nashville SC vs. Los Angeles FC score prediction

Nashville 2, LAFC 2: Fresh off its longest rest of the season, Nashville plays with plenty of attacking vigor, though Bouanga leads an equally strong LAFC attack against a Nashville defense sans Walker Zimmerman.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC vs. Los Angeles FC: Score prediction, scouting report