A late goal from Chuba Akpom lifted Arsenal to a win over the MLS All-Stars in San Jose.

Now that the All-Star Game has been and gone, the business end of the MLS regular season is upon us. The playoff race is in full swing ahead of a busy weekend across the league. 

Seattle targets Galaxy win after difficult week

All eyes will be on Seattle this Sunday when Seattle hosts LA at CenturyLink Field (4 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN).

The hosts will be playing an MLS match without Sigi Schmid leading them for the first time in their history and no one quite knows what that will mean for the Sounders in the short term. With the club already shaking the bushes in search of a quality replacement, anything that happens will be viewed through the lens of it being temporary.

Schmid's influence on the Sounders organization was, and will remain, massive and whomever takes his place as the permanent head coach will be operating in his shadow for some time to come. Comparisons will begin almost immediately because, although 2016 has been a disaster to date and Schmid did not bring an MLS Cup title to Seattle, he was nonetheless very successful during his seven-year reign.

Nothing would do the Sounders more good than a big win over a top team in the aftermath of the painful decision to let their head coach go. After last week's depressing performance against Sporting Kansas City in which they managed just one shot and lost 3-0, expect Seattle to come out of the gates full of energy and intensity.

Applying immediate pressure to the Galaxy defense, which is starting to find its groove as the playoff race heats up, will fall to Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris and -- perhaps -- the newly-arrived Nicolas Lodeiro. The Uruguayan might not be a savior, but he's a major addition to a club that desperately needs his creative abilities.

Seattle has won just twice in its last 11 MLS games.

NYCFC, Colorado target winning form

The two biggest surprises of the season so far face off in the Bronx on Saturday. New York City FC comes in off a humbling derby defeat at the hands of the New York Red Bulls, while Colorado arrives after a hard-fought 1-1 home draw with FC Dallas.

NYCFC needs to regain the swagger that helped launch it to the top of the Eastern Conference, while the Rapids, who don't anything that isn't "scrappy," would be more than happy to grab a point out of the match.

That is in part due to the long trip they'll be taking to the east coast, but also because Colorado's road record -- two wins in nine games -- isn't very good (like most teams in the league). On a tight field at Yankee Stadium, Colorado coach Pablo Mastroeni won't mind making proceedings ugly.

But then there's NYCFC's home record and the hectic week that two of the club's stars have dealt with. With just three wins in 11 games, NYCFC has been atrocious at home relative to the rest of the league. Plus, will Andrea Pirlo and David Villa be fresh after a trip to San Jose for their - brief -- All-Star appearances.

Maybe that will entice the Rapids to go for victory and they could also see the game as an opportunity to make a statement after not having a single All-Star. Pirlo and Villa are big names, European superstars making millions; all Colorado has is an effective team, featuring a host of blue-collar players.