The Western Conference standings are starting to look like there’s a playoff chase shaping up.

The Galaxy begin Wednesday tied with Sporting Kansas City in fourth place with 38 points, two points out of third and five out second. Of the top five teams in the Western Conference, the Galaxy are the only one in action Wednesday.

The Galaxy, who had their nine-game MLS unbeaten streak snapped last Sunday, take on the Chicago Fire (5:30 p.m./TWCS). That’s the last-place-in-the-Eastern-Conference Chicago Fire.

With a victory, the Galaxy could vault into third place in the Western Conference.

“This is very important,” midfielder Nigel de Jong told LAGalaxy.com Tuesday in Chicago. “We’ve got 10 games left to go, and we haven’t won in a while. It’d be good for our confidence to get this victory on the road before we get back to L.A.”

The Galaxy had recorded three consecutive draws before losing to New York City FC (1-0) last Sunday. The last victory for the Galaxy came July 23 at Portland (2-1).

The Galaxy could be in store for a breakout performance, considering the quality of opponents on the horizon. After Wednesday’s clash with last place Chicago, the Galaxy come home to face the Vancouver Whitecaps, currently in ninth place in the Western Conference.

If the Galaxy can snap the winless streak tonight, then they will need a better offensive effort from the one they had against NYCFC.

The club constantly failed to find a rhythm offensively after falling behind in the early stages.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of quality to our passing in the last third today,” Arena said following the game. “The couple of chances we get, we have to put one in the back of the net. That’s the name of the game.”

The Galaxy are 5-0-2 against the Fire in the last seven meetings. The last Chicago victory against the Galaxy came in 2010.

Perhaps the only positive that the Galaxy could take from Sunday’s loss to NYCFC was the play of goalkeeper Clement Diop. Diop, who regularly plays for LA Galaxy II, replaced starter Brian Rowe in goal. He allowed just the one goal to David Villa, although replays showed that the goal shouldn’t have counted as Villa was in an offside position.

“He did very well,” Robbie Keane said of Diop. “He was sharp off his line and he made it hard for them. He was very, very quick and aggressive.”

GALAXY at CHICAGO FIRE

Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. at Toyota Park

TV/Radio: Time Warner Cable Sports Net; KWKW/1330

Update: The Fire (5-11-7) are in last place in the Eastern Conference with 22 points, but coming off a 3-0 victory over Montreal. It was the first road victory for Chicago since July 12, 2014, a span of 36 games. David Accam leads the Fire with six goals. The Galaxy have just one midweek game remaining (Sept. 7 at Real Salt Lake) after tonight. The remainder of the regular season schedule will be played on either Saturday or Sunday.