The Hatters travel to Millwall for the first Sky Bet Championship match of 2020 as they look to get three points which could move them out of the relegation zone.
Town suffered a 3-0 away defeat at Bristol City which resulted in them dropping down to 23rd position in the league, a performance they hope to improve upon at The Den in a match that will be screened live on Sky Sports.
Millwall on the other hand were victorious last time out – beating Brentford 1-0. Currently 11th in the league, the Lions could find themselves in the play-off places with a second home win in a row.
GRAEME JONES SAID:
(These quotes are taken from Graeme's press conference at the end of the Bristol City match)
On addressing the away form: "I have spoken to the lads, we had a long, long honest conversation and the group is honest. We are a bit short at the minute, but we have got an honest group of players who couldn’t raise a gallop, couldn’t fight their corner (against Bristol City). They put a lot into the Fulham game and you have to assess.
"It’s not good enough, I am not happy with it. You stand there and you feel like you’re not competing for a while, certainly for the first 15 minutes. After that, we had a right go and it wasn’t enough. You have to start the game well and we didn’t."
On the return of Martin Cranie: "We told a few home truths at half-time, let one or two know. We made a substitution at half-time, it was nice to have Martin on the pitch because he has got that experience of 400 games in the Championship, the composure, that control, he fights his corner.
"He’s one-v-one for a header at the end and he gets his head on it and it’s out for a corner. It’s just enough. We’ve been missing that, we have been missing that for a long time. We need our best players fit. We started the game with four missing today, you can’t do that. We've had four not fit now for maybe two months, and it's caught up with us.
"But we need to go again. Nobody is going to help us. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We've got a big game in three days' time against Millwall and we've got to fight our corner more than ever then, and then we need to see what the January window can bring."
WHO?
Millwall were promoted into the Championship after winning the play-off final in 2017 courtesy of a 1-0 win over Bradford City.
Prior to that feat, the Lions were FA Cup finalists in 2004 but they suffered defeat to Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium.
WHEN AND WHERE?
Kick-off is 12:45pm at The Den on Wednesday 1st January.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Stephen Martin has overseen 18 games so far this campaign, dishing out 45 yellow cards and two red cards.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for tomorrow’s game are no longer on sale from the LTFC Ticket Office, but are available to buy on the day from 10am using cash or card from the North Stand Ticket Office at Millwall.
PLAYED BEFORE?
The two sides last met in October as Callum McManaman scored a late equaliser to draw the game 1-1. Going into that match the Town were 18th after nine games, with Millwall two spots behind but only separated on goal difference.
The game at Kenilworth Road proved to be a last in charge of the Lions for Neil Harris - now manager of Cardiff City - and former Burton Albion, Birmingham, Derby and Stoke boss Gary Rowett was appointed in his place.
In the overall Luton v Millwall history, the Londoners remain on top with 33 wins against the Hatters, whilst Town have been victorious 22 times and drawn 26 games as well.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
The main blow-by-blow account of the action from The Den will be provided via the Match Centre on the club website, which you can access by clicking here.
The main moments from the game will appear on the Hatters’ social media feeds:
Twitter – @LutonTown
Facebook – www.facebook.com/LutonTown/
Instagram – www.instagram.com/ltfc_official/
IFOLLOW HATTERS
Due the match being screened live on Sky Sports, there will be NO live video stream available on iFollow Hatters either overseas or for those supporters based in the UK and Ireland.
You will be able to listen to Simon Pitts' expert commentary on the audio stream, however.
If you are based overseas and want to watch the match, you can find details of which broadcasters have the rights to screen it in the territory you are in by clicking here for details courtesy of the EFL.