Preview: Luton Town vs. Leeds United

Two teams fighting at opposite ends of the table will face off when Luton Town welcome Leeds United to Kenilworth Road for Saturday’s Championship fixture.

The Hatters are languishing in the bottom three, while the visitors head into the weekend in second place in the Championship table.

Match preview

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Luton may be down in 23rd position, but they will have renewed belief after losing just one of their previous five matches.

The Hatters ended a 12-game winless league run with a narrow 1-0 home win over Portsmouth, before they fell to a heavy 4-0 defeat against Burnley after being reduced to ten men in the 19th minute.

Luton have produced a positive response to that disappointing result, claiming away victories against Cardiff City and Hull City on either side of a goalless draw against Middlesbrough, leaving them three points adrift of safety with seven games left to play.

After beating Hull 1-0 in last Saturday’s away clash, Matt Bloomfield‘s side will now return to the familiar surroundings of Kenilworth Road, where they have won just once in their previous seven league matches (D3, L3).

Luton have at least avoided defeat in their last three home outings, while they have not conceded more than one goal in any of their previous 13 Championship matches at Kenilworth Road since losing 2-1 to Sunderland in October.

However, their hopes of claiming all three points on Saturday may be tempered by the fact they have gone seven head-to-head games without a win since running out 5-1 winners against Leeds in October 2006.

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Leeds have seen their promotion bid lose significant momentum in recent weeks after winning just one of their previous five matches.

They followed a draw against West Brom with a narrow away defeat to Portsmouth, before they returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory in their home meeting with Millwall.

However, they have failed to build upon those three points, having gone on to play consecutive 2-2 draws against Queens Park Rangers and Swansea City.

They would have been particularly disappointed with last Saturday’s draw against the Swans, given the fact they gave up the lead on two occasions, as Brenden Aaronson saw his opener cancelled out by Harry Darling, before Zan Vipotnik‘s stoppage-time equaliser followed Wilfried Gnonto‘s 86th-minute effort.

That late leveller dropped Leeds to second place in the standings, leaving them two points adrift of leaders Sheffield United and just above third-placed Burnley on goal difference.

Leeds can take confidence from the fact they have won their last two head-to-head away meetings, as they look to complete a league double over Luton for the first time since 1991-92 after cruising to a 3-0 victory in November’s reverse fixture.

Luton Town Championship form:

Leeds United Championship form:

Team News

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Luton are expected to be without the services of Teden Mengi, Shandon Baptiste, Marvelous Nakamba and Jacob Brown.

The Hatters will also have to assess the fitness of Isaiah Jones, who sat out last Saturday’s win due to a knock he sustained on international duty.

Tahith Chong is pushing for a starting spot after returning from injury to feature as a half-time substitute against Hull.

As for the visitors, defender Max Wober and forward Patrick Bamford are closing in on a return to action following their respective injury issues.

Illan Meslier has come under scrutiny for a number of his performances this season, and Daniel Farke has now confirmed that he will replace the Frenchman with Karl Darlow for Saturday’s contest.

Farke could decide to recall Junior Firpo and Ao Tanaka after the pair dropped to the bench for the draw with Swansea.

Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Makosso, McGuinness, Bell; Chong, Walsh, Clark, Aasgaard, Doughty; Morris, Adebayo

We say: Luton Town 1-1 Leeds United

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