With the MLS season coming to a halt for a month in less than two weeks, there are midweek matches to keep the competition on track. Two of the best in the Eastern Conference meet on Thursday morning when the New England Revolution host Atlanta United.

The reverse meeting between these two was one of the season’s best matches so far when Carles Gil and Thiago Almada shone in a 3-3 draw and those two get the chance to go head-to-head here after the former returns from suspension.

New England come into the game in third place in the Eastern Conference standings and could move up to second with a win here. Atlanta starts out in fifth but would move above their opponents should they come out on top so neither team is lacking in incentive here.

I think we are in for a cracking match here. New England are pretty good at home but there is an obvious way in for Atlanta with DuJuan Jones away at the Gold Cup, which should light up the eyes of Brooks Lennon.

Atlanta also have a hole in their defence with Miles Robinson still with the USA team at the Gold Cup and the likes of Bobby Wood and Gustavo Bou should enjoy themselves in their absence.

We have already seen one high-scoring match between these two sides and with nine of the last 10 Revs matches going over 2.5 goals and Atlanta matches having more goals in them than any team in the league, I expect over 2.5 goals here.

Two Western Conference sides meet at Children’s Mercy Park on Thursday morning when Sporting Kansas City host a Real Salt Lake side who I believe could be the dark horses for MLS Cup from here on in.

RSL were ticking along nicely but were waiting for their star signing Chicho Arango to become available and immediately as soon as he was, they destroyed a tough-to-beat Orlando City side 4-0 at the weekend.

Usually, you would worry about teams going on their travels but no team in MLS has won more matches away from home this season, or picked up more road points this term, than Real Salt Lake, so that isn’t the concern it might otherwise have been.

Sporting Kansas City won their last home match 3-0 and were probably good value for more than the point they got at Houston at the weekend when they ran into an insanely good team goal.

We have two of the better number nines in the league on show in this match. Alan Pulido was player of the month for June and hasn’t stopped scoring in July either, while Arango has proven to be elite in this league in the past. Those two and the supporting cast can ensure we see three goals and more here.

One of the last matches to kick off on Thursday morning does so in California, where potentially the two best teams in the Western Conference meet. The champions Los Angeles FC host St Louis City SC.

You get the feeling that this is a big match for Los Angeles FC. They began the MLS campaign in fine form but almost against the grain they have weakened since losing the Champions League’s final.

It might be that the disappointment of losing that match has hit them harder than we have given credit for, but also could be that the relentless schedule has caught up with them. Either way, LAFC have won just two of their last nine in MLS.

St Louis City have been pretty consistent throughout the season. They had a couple of weeks in June where they weren’t at their best and picked up some poor results, but they have bounced back strongly with three straight wins, two of which have come on the road which bodes well.

There are goals in both sides. Only Columbus Crew have scored more goals in MLS this season than St Louis while only St Louis and Vancouver Whitecaps have scored more in the Western Conference than LAFC.

St Louis are 14-7 in over 2.5 games this season while LAFC are 12-9 and I expect these two entertaining sides to add another over to their ledger here.