On Saturday, 30th of December, as part of the 20th round of the Premier League, Luton Town will host Chelsea in their home ground. On Boxing Day, Rob Edwards' charges obtained a dramatic victory over Sheffield United with a score of 2:3, while 24 hours later the Blues triumphed over Crystal Palace - 2:1.
Luton Town: Kaminski; Osho, Mengi, Bell; Doughty, Barkley, Lokonga, Giles; Townsend, Morris; Adebayo.
Chelsea: Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Caicedo, Gallagher; Madueke, Palmer, Sterling; Nkunku.
The match will take place in Luton at the Kenilworth Road Stadium.
Having earned a place in the Premier League last summer, Luton Town is facing challenges this season for obvious reasons, as the team is fighting for survival in the world's strongest league. Despite being in the relegation zone in 18th place, they are only one point behind Everton ranked above them. Another reason for the Hatters' supporters to have hope is the two victories they achieved last week: over Newcastle (1:0) and Sheffield United (2:3).
Oli McBurnie and Anel Ahmedhodzic turned the match around after Alfie Doughty's goal in the first half, but eventually, due to Jack Robinson's own mistake, the ball was sent into his goal by a header, and four minutes later Anis Ben Sliman also saddened Wes Foderingham with an own goal. A victory on Saturday will allow the hosts to achieve three Premier League victories for the first time since December 1991 - incidentally, the opponent then was precisely Chelsea! Luton is more than decent in attack: scoring 21 goals in 18 played rounds (the same as Manchester United, for instance) with 34 conceded.
Despite massive investments in recent years, Chelsea has struggled to establish itself at the top of the Premier League standings. Worse yet, in the 21st century, the Blues have never looked as weak as they are these two years. Having already missed out on the European cups this season, the capital club cannot claim to participate in continental competitions next autumn, as it resides in the lower half of the league table, in 10th place, trailing the top-seven by 5 points. In December, the visitors lost three of their four league games - against Manchester United (2:1), Everton (2:0) and Wolves (2:1) last Sunday.
The only highlight was reaching the League Cup semi-finals against Newcastle on penalties. But on Wednesday evening, Mauricio Pochettino's men barely got over Crystal Palace with a score of 2:1 - the penalty by Noni Madueke in the 89th minute decided everything. Chelsea's win over the Eagles marked a fourth straight home win in all competitions, while the Blues have suffered a similar run of defeats on the road.
In August of this year, Pochettino's side convincingly won their home match against Luton with a score of 3:0.
In recent weeks, Luton has gained confidence, winning the last two Premier League games, so the favourites await a challenging stroll to Kenilworth Road. The visitors can't count on several key players due to injuries, and the Londoners' game itself does not evoke any sympathy. The support of the home crowd can give the Hatters extra strength, so I place my bet on their handicap 1.5.
Luton defends very compactly at home and has conceded only 14 goals in nine matches at home. We boldly place a bet on the individual total of the visitors under 2 goals scored.
Luton will bet on quick counterattacks and may even excel in this component - in any case, the white and blue will definitely take at least 4 corners.
Luton will regularly commit fouls and slow down the opponent's attack tempo, so the Hatters' victory in terms of yellow cards is beyond doubt.
I bet on the exact score 1:1.
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Manchester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9:2 | 9 | |
2 | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7:0 | 9 | |
3 | Brighton | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6:2 | 7 | |
4 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5:1 | 7 | |
5 | Newcastle | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4:2 | 7 | |
6 | Brentford | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5:4 | 6 | |
7 | Aston Villa | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4:4 | 6 | |
8 | Bournemouth | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5:4 | 5 | |
9 | Nottingham | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3:2 | 5 | |
10 | Tottenham | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6:3 | 4 | |
11 | Chelsea | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7:5 | 4 | |
12 | Fulham | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 4 | |
13 | West Ham | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 4:5 | 3 | |
14 | Manchester Utd | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 2:5 | 3 | |
15 | Leicester | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 3:5 | 1 | |
16 | Crystal Palace | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 2:5 | 1 | |
17 | Ipswich | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -5 | 2:7 | 1 | |
18 | Wolves | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 3:9 | 1 | |
19 | Southampton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -4 | 1:5 | 0 | |
20 | Everton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -8 | 2:10 | 0 | |
1 | Newcastle | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 6 | |
2 | Brentford | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:2 | 6 | |
3 | Arsenal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 4 | |
4 | Manchester City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 3 | |
5 | Liverpool | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 | |
6 | Brighton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 | |
7 | Tottenham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:0 | 3 | |
8 | Fulham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:1 | 3 | |
9 | Manchester Utd | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:3 | 3 | |
10 | Nottingham | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
11 | Bournemouth | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
12 | Chelsea | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1:3 | 1 | |
13 | Leicester | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:3 | 1 | |
14 | Ipswich | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1:3 | 1 | |
15 | Aston Villa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 0 | |
16 | West Ham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2:5 | 0 | |
17 | Crystal Palace | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 0 | |
18 | Wolves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2:6 | 0 | |
19 | Southampton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 0 | |
20 | Everton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2:6 | 0 | |
1 | Manchester City | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:1 | 6 | |
2 | Liverpool | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 6 | |
3 | Aston Villa | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:2 | 6 | |
4 | Brighton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:1 | 4 | |
5 | Bournemouth | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4:3 | 4 | |
6 | Arsenal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 | |
7 | Nottingham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 3 | |
8 | Chelsea | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6:2 | 3 | |
9 | West Ham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 3 | |
10 | Newcastle | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
11 | Tottenham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:3 | 1 | |
12 | Fulham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 1 | |
13 | Crystal Palace | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:3 | 1 | |
14 | Wolves | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1:3 | 1 | |
15 | Brentford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 0 | |
16 | Manchester Utd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
17 | Leicester | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
18 | Ipswich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
19 | Southampton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
20 | Everton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:4 | 0 |
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