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Revolution-Galaxy Preview

Jul 3, 2009 - 10:20 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

New England (4-4-4) at Los Angeles (3-3-9), 11:00 p.m. EDT

Even before he returned to the field, Landon Donovan was making news this week. The Los Angeles Galaxy now hope he can provide just as much excitement on the pitch after a four-game absence.

Donovan and the Galaxy look to record their first win in 10 matches against the New England Revolution as the two meet Saturday.

Donovan, who has six goals and four assists, missed the Galaxy's last four games, including a 1-0 victory over Houston last Sunday, while helping the U.S. men's national team to a second-place finish in the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Los Angeles (3-3-9), which split the four games in his absence, is struggling near the bottom of the Western Conference standings with 18 points.

"I'm excited to be back," he told the Galaxy's official Web site. "I love this team and ... I love the guys here. I want to help contribute. This is the critical part of our season, so I want to be a part of it."

Saturday is Los Angeles' final home game before it begins a three-game road trip leading up to the All-Star break. David Beckham is expected to rejoin the team July 16 to face New York. There will likely be some controversy leading up to that game after Donovan was quoted this week as saying Beckham was a bad teammate. His comments come in a soon-to-be released book, an excerpt of which was published in this week's Sports Illustrated.

Donovan will try to put that distraction behind him as he and the Galaxy look to win back-to-back games for the first time. Los Angeles, however, will be without starting goaltender Donovan Ricketts, who is with Jamaica for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Josh Saunders, who is 0-1-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average, will start in his place.

"He's been waiting for this chance and I have absolutely no worries," goalkeeper coach Ian Feuer said. "I"m happy for him that he's getting some playing time. He deserves it and he's definitely more than capable of doing the job for us."

The Galaxy also acquired two-time All-Star Alecko Eskandarian from Chivas USA. The forward has one goal in seven games.

Los Angeles' last win against the Revolution was a 3-2 victory on April 3, 2004, at the Home Depot Center. Since then, the Galaxy have gone winless in nine league matches against New England, suffering a 2-1 loss and a 2-2 draw last season. New England is 3-0-1 in its last four visits to Los Angeles.

After back-to-back wins, the Revolution (4-4-4) lost 3-1 at Kansas City on June 13 in which they allowed two goals in a three-minute span before the end of the first half while playing with 10 men following a red card given to Emmanuel Osei, who will also miss this match.

"That not why we lost the game," coach Steve Nicol said of losing Osei. "We lost because we weren't very good. We have no excuses."

The Revolution, who qualified for the semifinals of the SuperLiga since playing their last MLS match, have five players unavailable because of injuries and two - defenders Kevin Alston (hamstring tightness) and Gabriel Badilla (bulging disk) - who are questionable.

New England lost 2-1 on Tuesday to Harrisburg in the U.S. Open Cup its last time out.