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Premier League: Luton Town vs. Aston Villa – Luton Town will play Aston Villa at Kenilworth Road on Saturday evening as they return to the Premier League relegation battle following a devastating FA Cup loss to the defending champions.
The FA Cup match on Tuesday saw Manchester City destroy Rob Edwards’s team 6-2; earlier in the day, the Lions defeated Nottingham Forest 4-2 at home in the Premier League.
After what happened on Tuesday night, when Man City’s dynamic combination compiled an incredible nine goal contributions between them in the FA Cup fifth round, Luton supporters, players, and coaching staff might still be having nightmares about Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
For the second time in his Citizens uniform, Haaland finished the match with an incredible five goals, four of which were assisted by De Bruyne. Mateo Kovacic’s goal also made sure that Jordan Clark’s two goals for Luton would amount to very little.
The goal of the match went to Clark’s opening goal, which gave Hatters fans hope for an unlikely comeback. However, the 30-year-old and his teammates went home wounded and hurt after a night of playing against the champions, who sent them to their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
A Luton team whose powers have gradually diminished finds itself in 18th place in the Premier League table, four points behind Nottingham Forest in the safe position of 17th place with a game remaining.
This is due to three straight Premier League losses to Sheffield United, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
Although Edwards’s team has now scored in nine straight games thanks to Clark’s brace on Tuesday, the Luton defence has allowed a staggering 19 goals in their previous five games, including 11 in their three home games during a forgettable February.
Recently, Aston Villa’s defensive performances at Villa Park have also left a lot to be desired. Last weekend, Unai Emery’s team conceded against Nottingham Forest for the fourth straight game as both Moussa Niakhate and Morgan Gibbs-White found a way through for the visitors.
But before Forest made a second-half comeback, two goals from Douglas Luiz and an early goal from Ollie Watkins had given Aston Villa an apparently insurmountable lead.
However, any thoughts of a comeback were dashed when Leon Bailey scored the Lions’ fourth goal of the afternoon.
Due to their first home win of 2024 and the cancellation of Tottenham Hotspur’s London derby against Chelsea, the EFL Cup finalists, Emery’s team is five points ahead of the Lilywhites in the race for the fourth and final Champions League berth, even though they have played one more game.
Read More: Premier League: Nottingham Forest vs. Liverpool match preview, prediction, team news, lineups
Even though the Lions haven’t played well at home this season, they haven’t lost in five games against rival teams in 2024.
They’ve only given up one goal in those five games, and now the visitors have a chance to win three straight Premier League road games for the first time since Emery’s first three away games as manager.
When Luton travelled to the West Midlands in October, Aston Villa easily defeated them 3-1; however, the Lions have not won at Kenilworth Road since 1989, having lost their last three games at the home of the Hatters.
Luton Town Premier League form:
D W D L L L
Luton Town form (all competitions):
W D L L L L
Aston Villa Premier League form:
D L W L W W
Aston Villa form (all competitions):
L W L L W W
Amari’i Bell, who was injured near the end of the first half and had to watch helplessly as Haaland, De Bruyne, and company tore his squad to pieces, found the humiliation at the hands of Man City especially agonising.
Although Edwards acknowledged that neither Bell nor Gabriel Osho, who was not used as a substitute on Tuesday, were fully fit before the match, Man City loanee Issa Kabore will at least make a comeback after being unable to play against his parent club.
But Luton, who gave January signing Daiki Hashioka his first-team debut on Tuesday night, is still without Mads Andersen (calf), Elijah Adebayo (hamstring), Albert Sambi Lokonga (thigh), Dan Potts (unspecified), Jacob Brown (knee), Marvelous Nakamba (knee), and Tom Lockyer (heart).
Read Also: Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs Crystal Palace match preview, prediction, team news, lineups
In their most recent match, Pau Torres suffered a leg injury that prevented him from playing past halftime against Nottingham Forest, prompting Aston Villa to make an early defensive substitute.
After the game, Emery downplayed Torres’ withdrawal, citing precautionary measures.
The Lions will undoubtedly be without six injured players: Boubacar Kamara (knee), Tyrone Mings (knee), Emiliano Buendia (knee), Jhon Duran (hamstring), Diego Carlos (thigh), and Ezri Konsa (knee), though the latter is healing “very well.” Torres should be fine to resume his role in the rearguard.
Watkins has now contributed 24 goals directly to Premier League goals this season; only Mohamed Salah has done so more than he has in 2023–24. The Englishman, who hopes to play in Euro 2024, is well-positioned to lead a Lions’ XI that remains unaltered.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Osho, Mengi, Burke; Ogbene, Barkley, Clark, Doughty; Chong, Morris; Woodrow
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Cash, Torres, Lenglet, Moreno; Bailey, Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey; Tielemans; Watkins
Our prediction for this match 3-0 or 4-1 won by villa
