Match Previews

Match Preview | Luton Town vs Manchester City

The Premier League double-header at Kenilworth Road this week concludes with the visit of treble winners Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, live on Sky Sports in the UK.

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Rob Edwards’ side have proved difficult to beat at home after securing their first win against Crystal Palace and taking top-of-the-table Arsenal to the 97th minute on Tuesday night.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City are winless in their last four matches, which is their worst run without a win since April 2017.

The opposition

Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Guardiola arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2016 as one of the best managers of his generation.

With six top-flight league titles, four cups and two Champions League’s to his name before arriving in Manchester, Guardiola has taken City to unprecedented heights in recent years.

The highlights include three Premier League titles in a row, a 100-point season in 2017/18 and securing City’s first ever Champions League and treble in the club’s history last season.

It has been a tougher start to the Premier League campaign this time around, with City currently sat in fourth place and winless in their last four games.

City’s last five defeats in all competitions have all been when Rodri hasn’t featured. However, with the Spainard available for selection again following suspension, City are unbeaten in their last 43 games with him in the side.

Record-breaking striker Erling Haaland has scored nine goals in eight Premier League games against promoted sides since his arrival in 2022 – the Norwegian has not scored in his last two Premier League games.

Rob on City

“Man City are amazing. I’ve got such admiration for Guardiola as a manager, wherever he’s been he has been a winner and they have built this football club over the years, it’s incredible to see the culture they have built with the players they have.

“To continuously evolve them and keep winning, including the treble last season, everyone will now be trying to knock them off their pedestal, so it’s a big challenge for them.

“They’ve been in tight games where they could have won all of them, we know how tight games are and that’s just the nature of the Premier League.”

Last meeting at the Kenny

Luton Town held Man City to a score-draw when the Citizens last visited Kenilworth Road while in League One in November 1998.

Gary Doherty headed in the equaliser for the Hatters in the second half after Andy Morrison had given City the lead before half-time.

Last time out

The Hatters were seconds away from taking points off of Premier League leaders Arsenal before falling to defeat in the 97th minute.

A seven-goal thriller had goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Gabe Osho, Gabriel Jesus, Elijah Adebayo, Ross Barkley and Kai Havertz before Declan Rice headed in the stoppage time winner.

Team news

Edwards is hopeful of welcoming back Tom Lockyer, Marvelous Nakamba and Sambi Lokonga after spells out of the side.

Skipper Lockyer missed the Arsenal fixture after injuring his back at Brentford, Nakamba had a knee issue when he returned from international duty last month and Lokonga has had a hamstring issue since September.

Cauley Woodrow, Reece Burke, Dan Potts and Mads Andersen all remain sidelined.

Officials

The referee for our fixture against City will be Tim Robinson.

64 yellow cards and no red cards have been handed out by Robinson across his 15 games this season.

Luton Town last had a game ran by Robinson when we visited Sunderland in the first leg of our successful Championship play-off semi-final tie in May.

Referee: Tim Robinson

Assistant Referees: Marc Perry & Matthew Wilkes

Fourth Official: Craig Pawson

VAR: Jarred Gillett

AVAR: Darren Cann

LOVE FOOTBALL. PROTECT THE GAME.

Luton Town Football Club has committed in its customer charter to providing safe match-day experiences for all supporters regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation, and this applies equally to home and away fixtures.

In the event that any Luton supporters do make discriminatory chants, the Club will work with the police and football authorities to help identify such individuals. Any such fans would then face the strictest club sanctions, including football banning orders that would prevent them attending any matches, in addition to any criminal charges.

The Club can also be held responsible for the behaviour of its supporters, which could lead to substantial fines being imposed.

As a diverse and inclusive football club, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our fellow Premier League clubs in supporting the FA’s ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’ campaign and call on all fans to enjoy the game in a positive spirit.

Please email [email protected] if you have any concerns and to report incidents at a Luton Town fixture. You can also report incidents via Kick it Out's free, confidential reporting app on the App Store and Google Play.

Fan information

We would like to remind supporters to arrive at the game as early as possible to ease congestion around the stadium, at the Ticket Office and the turnstiles.

There will be additional road closures around Kenilworth Road on home matchdays.

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