Match Preview: Luton Town v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford’s Premier League run-in continues with a trip to Luton Town on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

A 2-0 victory over Sheffield United last time out lifted Thomas Frank’s side to 15th, while the Hatters sit 18th, one point behind Nottingham Forest on the other side of the dotted line.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead the meeting at Kenilworth Road.

Pre-match Analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Expect goals at Kenilworth Road

Brentford have the chance to make it two wins in a row against Luton Town on Saturday after breaking their winless streak last time out against Sheffield United.

Mikkel Damsgaard's surging run forced Ollie Arblaster into diverting the ball into his own net to open the scoring for the Bees before Frank Onyeka came off the bench to quickly seal the win in stoppage-time with his first-ever for the club (a goal that was assisted by the returning Kevin Schade).

Those three points were long overdue and just rewards for the recent improved performances. Ivan Toney missed the game having only been on the bench due to fitness but should be ready for this weekend's clash.

Now, Thomas Frank's side have a great chance to build on that as they take on Luton who will be nursing their wounds from a bruising 5-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last time out.

Remarkably, should Brentford win against the Hatters it would be the only time they have recorded back-to-back wins this season apart from a trio of victories back in October until November when the Bees defeated Burnley, Chelsea and West Ham United.

No doubt Luton fans could relate to Brentford supporters' frustrations during that nine-game winless run which ended on Saturday. The Hatters themselves went 11 games without a victory in all competitions between February and early April – a duck that was only broken a few weeks ago with a 2-1 home win over Bournemouth.

Looking ahead to the weekend, one thing that seems very likely is that we should see goals.

There have been 116 Premier League goals scored in Luton's games so far this season (46 by Luton, 70 by the opposition). Only two other teams can give you better value for money in the league when it comes to goals: Newcastle United (121, 69F 52A) and Aston Villa (117, 68F 49A).

Indeed, we've generally seen the best of Luton at home this season. Four of the Hatters' six victories this season have come at Kenilworth Road and they've scored more home league goals (24) than Bournemouth, Wolves and Manchester United (all on 23).

However, Luton are just as likely to concede at home as well. There have been 27 goals scored by opponents at Kenilworth Road so far this season – only Sheffield United (47), Burnley (37) and perhaps surprisingly Brentford (30) have conceded more at home.

What will make this a particularly difficult day for Brentford is that for Luton these final games of the season are like five successive cup finals as they look to secure their Premier League survival.

Ross Barkley, who has arguably been Luton's best player this season, claimed that the vital final five games for his side (Brentford, Wolves, Everton, West Ham and Fulham) are all “winnable” and it's up to the Bees to prove him wrong to keep the momentum going.

Scout Report

Luton in fight for Premier League survival with five games left to play

“I can’t take Luton seriously and I see them down by Christmas,” wrote BBC pundit Garth Crooks, shortly after the Hatters’ 2-1 defeat to West Ham in their first Premier League home game last year.

Those 12 words, understandably, drew plenty of criticism on social media. They also threw fuel on the Hatters’ fire. There’s no doubt that post on X will have been bookmarked by the club’s social media team.

There is no doubt this season has been tough for Luton, but they will have been expecting it. Fair enough, barring a few exceptions, they do not have a team filled with the glitz and glamour of the majority of their distinguished peers, but their grit and spirit has meant they’ve never been cut adrift. The words of many will have been swallowed.

In fact, on Christmas Day, Rob Edwards’ side were 18th in the Premier League, with a game in hand, after picking up 12 points from their first 17.

They had beaten Everton, Crystal Palace and Newcastle and drawn with Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. But they had also given Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City a run for their money, losing to each by a margin of just one goal.

“It gets tougher, but these are the games that we wanted. This gives us belief. We have to take that belief,” said Edwards after the gripping 4-3 reverse against the Gunners on 5 December.

The Hatters lost just once in a run of six between 23 December and 3 February and found themselves as high as 16th as a result, seven points above Burnley and 10 above Sheffield United.

A 4-4 draw at Newcastle will live long in the memory, while that streak also featured a match that will go down as one of the highlights of the season: beating Brighton 4-0 under the lights at Kenilworth Road. Elijah Adebayo had them in front inside one minute, Chiedozie Ogbene added a second inside three, before Adebayo struck twice more to complete his hat-trick. It was simply magical. They made it look easy that night.

They have only won one game since then, with six points from their last 12, but there is still so much room for optimism going into the final month of the campaign.

Points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest mean, with five games left to play, Luton are one point from safety and they only have one team currently in the top half of the table still to face (West Ham on 11 May).

Edwards remained buoyant despite the 5-1 loss to leaders Manchester City last time out. “We now have five huge games where we can get ourselves out of it. We almost have to write this off,” he said.

“We want to come to places like this and we want to come next year. We are in with a good chance of doing that. It’s learning from it and taking some of the positives.”

At the time of writing, the Hatters are third favourites for an immediate return to the Championship. It’s been the case for the majority of the season, but this club are used to adversity. They’ve beaten the odds before and you can be certain they will do everything to try and beat them again.

In the Dugout

Rob Edwards

Former Wales international Rob Edwards played the final game of a career hampered by injury on 2 March 2013, aged just 30.

In the 11 years since, has been on an exciting journey in the world of coaching and is leading a Premier League team in his own right perhaps even sooner than he might have ever anticipated.

Edwards made inroads at Wolves – for whom he had played from 2004 to 2008 – working with the youth teams initially, before moving up to work with the first team, even leading them in two Championship games after Walter Zenga’s short tenure came to an end in 2016.

In the summer of 2017, he left Molineux to take over at Telford United in the National League North and, after one season, returned to lead Wolves Under-23s into the Premier League 2 Division 1 after a successful 2018/19 campaign.

Those efforts led to Edwards being headhunted by England and, in the national team set-up, he worked as England U20s assistant and then U16s head coach, coaching players such as Liverpool’s Bobby Clark and Sunderland’s Jobe Bellingham.

He guided Forest Green Rovers to the Sky Bet League Two title in 2021/22 - his only season in Nailsworth – before moving on to Watford, where he was given just 10 Championship games before being sacked in September 2022 after delivering only three wins in that time.

Less than two months later, he joined Luton - Watford’s arch rivals – and the rest is history.

The Gameplan

With Luton News’ Mike Simmonds

Mike Simmonds of Luton News explains how Rob Edwards is likely to set up his side on Saturday:

“With this being written before Edwards’ press conference, then it is a bit of guesswork at the moment as we are not sure how many, if any, of his 12 injured players are going to be available.

“He will hopefully be able to revert to his favoured back three, with Issa Kaboré eligible to play in this one and Teden Mengi likely to return as well.

“Edwards is then a huge fan of wing-backs, and two deeper-lying midfielders, with two attackers either side of a lone frontman, which has been Carlton Morris ever since Elijah Adebayo picked up his hamstring injury.

“There is a slight chance Adebayo could be back, plus defender Gabe Osho as well, so he will be keeping his fingers crossed that there is finally some good news from the treatment room heading into this one.”

Last time out v Manchester City (3-4-2-1): Kaminski; Hashioka, Burke, Doughty; Onyedinma, Berry, Barkley, Chong; Townsend, Clark; Morris

Read the full interview with Mike Simmonds here

Team news

Frank delivers positive update

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank delivered a positive injury update ahead of the Bees’ Premier League game against Luton Town on Saturday.

Kristoffer Ajer is fit and available having recovered from a minor calf strain which kept him out of the 2-0 victory over Sheffield United. Captain Christian Nørgaard, who has missed the last five games due to a back injury, is also in contention, while striker Ivan Toney is “pressing” to start.

“From the last squad, everyone should be available,” Frank began.

“Ivan is pressing. He is desperate [to start], and I am desperate, so let’s see tomorrow. They [the Brentford fans] know how much I like Ivan and how important a player he is for us, so let’s see.

“He, like any other player, wants to make a difference. Of course, he would like to perform. With all your important players, you are willing to push them hard to play. And all of the important players normally have an extraordinary mentality and can push through things.

“And the best news is that Christian Nørgaard is available for selection.”

Match Officials

Gillett handed third Brentford assignment of the season

Referee: Jarred Gillett

Assistants: Darren Cann and Nick Hopton

Fourth official: Craig Pawson

Video assistant referee: Peter Bankes

Additional video assistant referee: Timothy Wood

Born on the Gold Coast, Australia, highly rated A-League referee Jarred Gillett emigrated to England in 2019 to study at Liverpool John Moore’s University, specialising in research on children with Cerebral Palsy.

He went on to make his EFL officiating debut in April of that same year.

Gillett made history in September 2021 when he became the first overseas official to referee a Premier League match when he took charge of Watford v Newcastle United.

Gillett’s last Brentford assignment was the Bees’ 2-2 draw with Chelsea last month.

Last Meeting

Brentford 3 Luton Town 1 (Premier League, 2 December 2023)

Three second-half goals saw Brentford secure a 3-1 win over Luton Town 3-1 at Gtech Community Stadium.

After an uneventful opening 45 minutes, two goals shortly after the break from Neal Maupay and Ben Mee looked to have secured the victory, but Jacob Brown halved the deficit with 15 minutes to play and breathed life into the contest.

A late strike from substitute Shandon Baptiste secured the three points.