Luton Town Match Preview

Last weekend, West Ham United managed something they have never done before in the Premier League; a win over Brighton and Hove Albion. They will attempt to follow that achievement up tonight, as they are on the road again, looking to earn another three points against last season’s Sky Bet Championship play-off winners Luton Town.

The Hammers have had a good record against the newly-promoted sides over the last two seasons but have lost to the last two play-off winners. Here’s hoping that they can end that particular run here and go into September’s international break on a high!!!

Last Saturday’s victory meant that the East Londoners climbed to the top of the Premier League table and, should they claim a third successive victory tonight, they could return there ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

The Hatters had their opening home match of the season against fellow newly-promoted club Burnley postponed, as work needed to be finished in order to make sure that Kenilworth Road was able to meet Premier League regulations.

With the Irons becoming the first top-flight visitors to arrive here this season, they will just be hoping that they don’t suffer a re-occurrance of last season’s defeat at Nottingham Forest.

David Moyes will want to see his side build on the success they had over The Seagulls and therefore inflict a third defeat on the team managed by former Forest Green Rovers and Watford boss Rob Edwards.

However, it will be interesting to see who starts the match the fresher of the two teams. The Hatters were involved in Carabao Cup action just three days ago. They came through a tricky tie, eventually winning 3-2 against Sky Bet League Two side Gillingham. In contrast, the Irons have had a full five days to prepare for this encounter after leaving The American Express Stadium having secured back-to-back triumphs.

Luton played their last top-flight game a week ago but saw Chelsea claim their first success of the new season. The hosts have lost all three games since being promoted so they will be hoping to finally get off the mark here.

The East Londoners finally completed a £38.2m deal to bring Mohammed Kudus to the club five days ago and the Ghanaian is in contention for selection.

Youngster Freddie Potts was hoping to come up against his brother Dan in this fixture until a loan deal was sanctioned, allowing him to leave the East End and join Sky Bet League One outfit Wycombe Wanderers on a season-long loan. Now, it appears that Dan won’t be available either, as he has picked up an injury which will see him spend a lengthy period on the sidelines. However, Reece Burke and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu are set to feature for the hosts against their former club.

Nayef Aguerd is likely to regain his place in the starting line-up after serving a suspension six days ago, while Saïd Benrahma could start in midfield if Moyes decides to drop Edson Álvarez back to the bench.

Tomáš Souček scored in a pre-season friendly here last season but he won’t be able to take part this time around. The Czech midfielder was substituted after suffering concussion during the first-half of the 3-1 victory in Sussex following a clash with Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

The match is an 8pm kick-off and live coverage will be screened by Sky Sports from 7pm. The referee is Paul Tierney.

In other news, the draw for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League was made earlier today and West Ham have been drawn as top-seeds in Group A alongside Greek outfit Olympiacos, as well as SC Freiburg of Germany. Moyes’ men will also face Serbian club FK TSC Bačka Topola.

All the action begins on Thursday 21 September.