Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire

For our first match of the day we have an interesting clash between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the London Spitfire.

Last week was a rather unfortunate one for the Gladiators as they ended it 0-2 however they were on the brink of victory in both matches. It was crushing to see them lose after giving it their all but they always found a way to bounce back after crushing defeats. They're currently ranked fifth behind the San Francisco Shock with three wins and three losses however they're still ever so slightly in the running for Stage 3 playoffs. The only caveat is that they're going to have to win all remaining four matches to do so which in all fairness isn't that big of a long shot.

They have the tools to defeat London, they can defeat Houston Outlaws, they will almost surely defeat the Florida Mayhem and they can at the very least go blow-for-blow with the Boston Uprising in the deciding match in week five. The only question is - will they be able to sustain playing at an incredibly high level throughout the remainder of the stage? Stranger things have happened however the Gladiators aren't really the epitome of consistency even though they have been stabilizing over the last couple of weeks.

They haven't been playing against the toughest of opponents so far in Stage 3 (their wins comes against the likes of Shanghai, Dallas and a struggling Seoul) but even though they lost to both the Valiant and New York last week in crushing five map brawlers they displayed a lot of potential. Even in their losses they displayed admirable skill both on an individual level and as a team, with individuals like Surefour, Hydration, Asher and Fissure taking up the majority of the spotlight.

Now while London isn't ranked highly right now they're still a force to be reckoned with. They've displayed moments of brilliance in all of their losses so far and it's a sad sight to behold - their surprising fall from grace. Ever since they failed to reach the finals of Stage 2 they didn't look that good and they're currently ranked ninth in Stage 3 which is downright abysmal for a team of this caliber. They were overtaken by Boston in the overall League standings and now they're third but if this trend continues they could fall out of the playoff picture entirely as Seoul, the Valiant, Philadelphia and even Houston are right on their tracks.

They still have the tools to compete at the highest level - that is a fact. They have some of the best players in the entire League and we've seen a glimpse of that last week as well.

They were so close to winning their match against Boston as well and they would've if it wasn't for a sensational last second hold from Mistakes and Striker on Oasis. Even though they're playing some high quality Overwatch they came short on numerous occasions over the last couple of weeks and it should by all means incentivize them to improve and rebound stronger than ever.

Against Boston they looked like the London of old, incredibly aggressive and capable with Haogepun, Profit and Hooreg having more than a couple of insane individual plays. They looked a bit fragile to be frank but that was expected after getting reverse swept so many times.

One thing was evident last week however - London had a bit more success with Hoored paired with Profit rather than Birdring. Hooreg and Profit did a ton of heavy lifting against the Valiant last week (against all expectations) and it was those small subtle differences in playstyle that gave them an edge over the undefeated Los Angeles team.

As for Profit he remains in the race for Season 1 MVP. He's the one guy carrying London through these tough times with his elite Tracer and Genji play. (leads all Tracers in Final Blows and Eliminations per 10 minutes)

This is an incredibly hard match to predict overall. Both teams are somewhat even in their current strength. London had a tougher schedule and arguably did a lot better than the Gladiators - even though they lost all of the matches that they should've won. With last week's win against the Valiant they're surely revitalized and they're riding some momentum going into Week 4 so we're going with the Spitfire on this one. That said the Gladiators are playing some of their best Overwatch yet so expect a hard fought series that could in reality go either way.