So once more, I’ve drawn the lucky straw and got the preview for the same team I did earlier in the season. If you want to know how that went, I’m sure Mr Gowers will be kind enough to insert a link here.
Having read it back, I wasn’t far off. Luton, coming off a thumping at Cardiff turned over a very tired and depleted Norwich side at Kenilworth Road.
As I predicted, Nathan Jones shuffled his pack and put out a side that tactically outthought and physically outfought us on the night.
Luton recruited some impressive additional players in January with Wigan all-rounder Kal Naismith, much-travelled winger Tom Ince, and Walsall striker Elijah Adebayo all bolstering Jones’s options.
Far from struggling, as many predicted, Luton have chugged along comfortably winning 12, drawing 8 and losing 13, and currently sit in 13th place in the table.
They’re coming off two wins on the spin having beaten Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 at home last Saturday and then snatched a 1-0 win at Forest on Tuesday night, so confidence will be high.
Tactically, Jones continues to shuffle his pack according to the opposition, with the 4-1-2-1-2 employed at Forest having been preceded by a 3-5-2 v Wednesday and in the draw against Millwall before that, and before that they played with a 4-3-3 and a 4-1-4-1.
Ultimately there is no way of second-guessing what line-up and formation Jones will go with, but after last time, it’s safe to assume he will have done his homework on us and be plotting accordingly.
Defensively they have been struggling with injuries and Naismith, who usually operates in the midfield areas, has had to put in a shift at centre-back to cover alongside Matt Pearson who has previously split time between centre-back and right-back.
Whether they are up to handling Teemu Pukki’s movement could have a major bearing on the game.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a back three put out against us for that very reason, although I don’t see that leading to an “everyone behind the ball/ park the bus” scenario. Luton have a bit more belief and intent to them than that, and in 6ft 4in Adebayo, a big physical presence to use as an outlet.
As much as I respect Jones and his ability to get the most out of his squad, I think we’re just in too good a mental place right now to do anything silly.
With a relaxed squad coming off yet another confidence-bolstering win, I’m fairly sure we’ll make our ability count in a way we didn’t at Kenilworth Road.
If we score early it might even be a battering. Luton’s gameplan will be to keep it at 0-0 for as long as possible and anything else will be a bonus.
you could be right , but Luton have done ever so well on the second lowest budget in the Championship.
They wont roll over easily . &K did win at Bournmouth !
We are in such a good place after the run of 6 wins I think the team will want to put one over Luton after the two disappointing results earlier in the season. I think they will produce yet another win. I am poor at predicting scores but I think what would be karma would be 3-1 to Norwich.
OTBC
Luton are riding their luck a mini streak, street fighters. My guess is they will start 4-1-2-1-2 it worked last time out nicking an away win at the City ground. Adebayo plus one up front. The difference should be, we have more teeth than Forest AND our defensive unit has conceded but two goals in six games. From last time we will have Teemu and hopefully Todd back plus our defence is settled and did a job on the best attack in the league, Brentford, and will want another clean sheet. 2-0 home win for me.
When we played back in early December only 5 of those who started against Brentford were in the side, no Krul, Pukki or McClean for starters, Saturday will seem very different I expect.
I’ll always remember ‘The King of Spain’ scoring a delicious free kick at Kenilworth Road back in about 1846 to give us a late 3-2 win and bring the house down, (you must visit the Oak Road end at Kenilworth Road to understand).
I fancy this Norwich team to brush Luton aside and put an end to the ‘bogey team’ tag, we owe them one!
Yep, never forgiven them for 1959!!
Yeah, but that was with the help of the officials who ruled Crossan offside when he scored. But for that little old us were at Wembly.
I just can’t shake the feeling, that Luton have put the evil eye on us! We’ve slipped on their banana skins too often, so I’m predicting a 1-0 defeat to bring us back down to earth after going 10 points clear at the top.
A little kick up the backside might be good for us and ensure we keep grafting for the rest of the season and win the title 😉
Last time Luton visited Carrow Road Norwich were Premier League and Hatters in the Conference. And we all know what happened then! Just proves nothing is certain in football
Luton have won three in a row against us. Never quite got over the pasting they gave us when they were non league and we were in the premiership. One of those teams we never beat.