Luton Town welcome bottom of the table Sheffield United to Kenilworth Road for a huge Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon.
Rob Edwards’ side are unbeaten so far in 2024 as we look to push ourselves further away from the relegation zone.
Chris Wilder’s Blades picked up their last Premier League win in December and currently sit on ten points after 23 games.
The opposition
Wilder made his return to Bramall Lane in December, helping them take three points against Brentford and draws with Aston Villa and West Ham United.
Oli McBurnie has more goals and assists combined than any other Blades player in the Premier League this season, although he hasn’t ended on the winning side in any game he has scored or assisted in.
Sheffield United have lost 29 of their last 35 away Premier League matches. Across those 35 games, the Blades have only scored twice in two games, one of which was last time out on the road in their 3-2 loss at Crystal Palace.
The last time the Town won both league games against the Blades was the 1976/77 season in the second tier.
Words from Rob
“We go into this match expecting a difficult game, a difficult battle with both teams fighting for their lives.
“We’ve been moving in the right direction for a long time, everyone is trying to improve which we’ve said all season. We’re becoming more of a threat and that’s because of the performances and our work in training.
“We’ve been more aggressive in our pressing and a lot of our improvement has come from that, our on-the-ball performances have been better which has given us more positive overall performances.
“There’s no easy game in the Premier League and if we step off it then we will be punished, we want to win because it’s a big game like they all are.
“We don’t go into any game saying it’s must-win, maybe down the line it may have to be like that but right now it isn’t.”
Last time we met
Luton came back from behind to take all three points from Bramall Lane against Sheffield United on Boxing Day.
Alfie Doughty gave us the lead until after the break when McBurnie and Anel Ahmedhodžić put the hosts in-front.
Two own goals from Blades Jack Robinson and Anis Slimane late on succumbed Wilder’s side to defeat.
Last time out
An eight-goal thriller at St James’ Park saw us share the points with Newcastle United last weekend.
Gabe Osho, Ross Barkley, Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo were all on the scoresheet as the Toon came from two goals behind to draw in the second half.
Team news
Teden Mengi picked up an ankle knock in training on Thursday and will be a doubt for the game on Saturday.
Edwards said new signing Daiki Hashioka is “still adjusting” to the squad and this match will be too soon for the Japanese international to be involved.
Jacob Brown and Issa Kaboré returned to the squad at Newcastle last week and will be available for selection again.
Danish defender Mads Andersen still will not be ready, while Marvelous Nakamba remains a long-term absentee at this stage.
Officials
The referee for our fixture against Sheffield United will be Chris Kavanagh.
72 yellow cards and two red cards have been handed out by Kavanagh across his 18 games this season.
We last had a game ran by Kavanagh when we hosted Wigan Athletic at Kenilworth Road in the Championship last season.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistant Referees: James Mainwaring & Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Lewis Smith
VAR: Paul Tierney
AVAR: Steven Meredith
Say Hello to TUI competition
Our Official Club Partner, TUI, will be holding an activation day at our fixture with Sheffield United.
Fans will be able to interact with their friendly staff, who will be around entrance points to the stadium for the afternoon prior to the fixture.
TUI are offering holiday based prizes for Luton Town fans to win which include:
- £50 TUI voucher – placed randomly in one matchday programme.
- £250 TUI voucher – entry is available at Normans Hut, Kenilworth Road.
- £500 TUI voucher – enter the competition via the TUI advertising page in the matchday programme, scan the QR code on the signs that will be dotted around the stadium or simply speak with a TUI staff member.
- £2500 TUI voucher – a Luton Town fan will be selected at random.
Announcements of the winners will be made at half-time, and communication will be made the following week for the lucky winners to claim their prizes.
TUI are also offering exclusive discounts for Luton Town fans, please visit https://www.tui.co.uk/
Use code ‘LUTONTOWN’ for an extra £10 off on current offers for Summer 2024 holidays.
Please see terms and conditions for information on the giveaway prizes and discount offering.
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.
If you are offended by any discriminatory abuse of any kind at any of our games, you can report it by clicking here, or by contacting your nearest steward immediately. Alternatively, email myvoice@lutontown.co.uk or report the incident 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.
A message from Luton Community Fire Station
Please park considerately when attending football matches at Kenilworth Road. Fire crews have been struggling recently to get around irresponsibly parked vehicles on Studley Road when attending fire calls, which has caused concerns and unnecessary restrictions over recent weeks.
Don’t park on yellow lines, these are used where street parking makes the road too narrow or blocks visibility for drivers. Parking on corners could mean that an emergency vehicle travelling on blue lights cannot see oncoming traffic round the corner.
If you park without considering passing emergency vehicles, you could prevent a life from being saved.