In a contest which looks set to have massive ramifications on the fight for survival in the second tier, Luton Town will welcome Plymouth Argyle to Kenilworth Road on Wednesday night in the Championship.
The Hatters are aiming to avoid the embarrassment of back-to-back relegations, whilst the Pilgrims are looking to narrowly escape the division's bottom three for a second year running.
Match preview
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Six games into the Matt Bloomfield era at Kenilworth Road, Luton Town are yet to enjoy victory in their pursuit of Championship safety (D2 L4), with Wednesday night's hosts in serious danger of dropping from the riches of the Premier League to the depths of League One in just two campaigns.
The Hatters are enduring a 10-game unbeaten streak in the second tier after a disappointing afternoon on Saturday, when a sole strike from Sheffield United's Anel Ahmedhodzic sealed maximum points for Chris Wilder's promotion-chasing Blades in a Bedfordshire battle.
Luton have set an unwanted club record by going four matches without finding the net at Kenilworth Road, with their most recent cause for celebration in front of their home faithful arriving on December 20, when Rob Edwards's troops bagged two in a narrow success over fellow strugglers Derby County.
Collecting just the single point from their last five second-tier battles, the Hatters are currently languishing at the very bottom of the Championship standings after 32 sobering matches, three points back from Ruben Selles's Hull City in the relative safety of 21st spot.
Scoring just 30 times in the Championship to date, Bloomfield's men are the lowest goalscorers in the division at this stage despite possessing a number of talented attackers who impressed in the Premier League last campaign, including Carlton Morris, Elijah Adebayo and Tahith Chong.
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In the words of popular head coach Miron Muslic, Plymouth Argyle took a 'little step back' in their push for Championship safety in Lancashire on Saturday afternoon, when a familiar face popped up to cause significant pain in the colours of Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Just days after seeing his contract at Home Park terminated, midfielder Adam Forshaw bagged his first competitive goal in nine years to down the Pilgrims in a second-tier contest, with danger man Tyrhys Dolan also finding the net for Rovers, who have won both of their matches since the exit of John Eustace to Derby.
After a promising three-game unbeaten run in the second tier which yielded seven precious points, defeat at Blackburn on the weekend means that Plymouth remain in the bottom three of the Championship rankings ahead of a midweek trip to Luton, two points behind Hull in 21st.
Hardly an untouched topic amongst supporters and pundits of the EFL, the Green Army are notoriously poor on their travels in the second tier, with the Pilgrims winless across their 16 away matches in the league this term, earning four points and scoring on just five occasions in the painful process.
That being said, there have been some notable results for Muslic's troops in recent times, including a draw at the home of promotion-chasing Sunderland, victories over Millwall and West Bromwich Albion at Home Park, with the relegation candidates also remarkably beating Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Team News
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Luton are without a number of their first-choice defender options, including Teden Mengi, who has not featured for the Hatters since late November.
The hosts are unable to call upon the talents of former Manchester United and Birmingham City attacker Chong due to a niggling hamstring issue.
Plymouth suffered a fresh injury blow in the defeat at Blackburn on the weekend, with in-form striker Ryan Hardie forced off due to a back injury.
The Scottish forward joins the likes of Brendan Galloway (hip) and Joe Edwards (hamstring) in the Pilgrims' medical room, with the former sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.
Whilst Plymouth wait for the results of a scan on Hardie's back issue, Michael Baidoo will be targeting a promotion from the bench on Wednesday night.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Naismith, McGuinness, Bell; Jones, Walsh, Nakamba, Aasgaard, Doughty; Morris, Brown
Plymouth Argyle possible starting lineup:
Hazard; Talovierov, Katic, Palsson; Sorinola, Randell, Houghton, Puchacz; Baidoo, Wright, Bundu
We say: Luton Town 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
After missing a plethora of chances against Sheffield United on the weekend, Luton have the perfect opportunity to break their Kenilworth Roal goal drought as Plymouth come to town on Wednesday night.
The Pilgrims have shown major signs of improvement since the arrival of Muslic, although we feel that they will need to wait even longer for their maiden away success of the season.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
