On Friday, 3rd May, as part of the Premier League's 36th round, Luton Town will play host to Everton. While the Toffees bagged a 1:0 victory against Brentford last weekend, the hosts remain in the relegation zone following their defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers, an away game that ended in a 2:1 defeat.
Luton Town: Kaminski; Mengi, Burke, Osho; Hashioka, Lokonga, Barkley, Doughty; Chong; Morris, Adebayo.
Everton: Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young; Harrison, Garner, Gueye, McNeil; Doucoure; Calvert-Lewin.
The clash will take place in Luton at the Kenilworth Road Stadium.
Luton Town, who hold the 18th spot in the Premier League table, lagging one point behind Nottingham Forest who are placed one spot above, still has a fighting chance of hanging on to their elite division standing, with three more rounds left to play in the national campaign. However, the Hatters' recent form does not inspire the fans with much optimism: the team has mustered a mere win from their last 14 matches, drawing thrice and ending with a defeat 10 times (only the performances of Sheffield United and Rotherham United match this alarming form across England's top four leagues). After a victory over Bournemouth (2:1), the White-Blues subsequently faced defeat against Manchester City (5:1), Brentford (1:5), and Wolverhampton in the past weekend (2:1).
Despite an 8-point deduction by the FA for financial irregularities, Everton have already secured their Premier League status for the following year. The Liverpool-based side found themselves in the relegation zone for a considerable duration, however, they have significantly improved their form in recent weeks and now stand at the 15th spot in the league table, leading their forthcoming opponents by 11 points.
The fact that the Toffees have gained four victories from their previous six clashes, drawing once and losing once, lends the team a boost of confidence. Everton achieved victories over Nottingham Forest (2:0), Liverpool (2:0), and Brentford this past weekend (1:0). Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski managed to stave off the Bees' onslaught, whereas Idrissa Gueye became the hero on the other end of the pitch, scoring the only goal. Everton's away record remains in a sorry state just as before, with 10 away matches without a win across all competitions, netting only four goals.
The Toffees' last visit to Kenilworth Road for the 2007/08 League Cup ended in their favour with a 0:1 scoreline. The first leg of the current season went Luton's way (1:2).
Everton have already secured their Premier League status for the 2024/25 season, and can thus play the rest of the season at their leisure. Given the Toffees' terrible away record, the motivated and relegation-battling Luton will look to exploit this weakness. The hosts managed to upset the Toffees in the first round, so a confident wager would be a victory for the Hatters with a handicap of 0.
Everton have only managed two goals in their last four away fixtures and hasn't been known for high-scoring games under Sean Dyche. Thus, my bet is on the guests' individual total under 1.5 goals.
Backed by their home supporters, Luton Town will attempt to maintain a dominant position and likely attack more often. Therefore, my bet is on Luton's individual total of over 4.5 corners.
We are unlikely to witness a plethora of yellow cards in this match (only two cautions were issued in the first leg), so my bet is on a total of fewer than 3.5 yellow cards.
I would put my money on a final score of 1:0 in favour of Luton.
# | 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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