Luton Town return from the international break with the first of two Premier League trips to North London in a week as we face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon.
Rob Edwards’ Hatters are coming back from the break outside the relegation zone after Nottingham Forest’s recent four-point deduction.
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs are outside of the top four after a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Fulham last time out.
The opposition
Spurs’ 38-match scoring streak came to an end in their defeat at Craven Cottage, with Luton now having the current longest scoring streak in the Premier League with 17 games.
The Lilywhites have won six of their last seven Premier League home games however, they have conceded in ten consecutive league matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Korea Republic international Son Heung-min scored two goals for his country over the break, building on two goals from his last three Spurs games.
Words from Rob
“When I look in the players’ eyes, I see they believe we can do it. We’ve had big players injured and it’s hard to be our best, but it fuels us to work even harder.
“Spurs are a brilliant team, even if we didn’t have players missing. I love watching Spurs play but hopefully we can cope with it. It’s the next opportunity for us and we’re really looking forward to it.
“If we are in this role in ten years’ time, we’ll still want to learn to the better. We have competed at this level for large spells this year, so it gives me belief that what we do is good. The lads are great, and we are up for the fight.
“We believe in ourselves as a group and football club, it is still in our destiny to stay up, so we need to pick up wins and points in this critical stage of the season. If we had gone into this season not believing, then we wouldn’t be where we are now.
“We’re ready for it, we’re going to step forward. Only four teams have scored more than us in the last 15 games, if we are trying to win games, we need to keep doing that while trying to shut the back door. At Spurs and Arsenal, we are still going to go and try to attack these games.”
Last time out
A crucial point was gained in the hunt for Premier League survival when Luton scored late on against Forest.
Luke Berry netted his first Premier League goal in the 89th minute after Chris Wood’s first half opener to share the points.
Team news
Teden Mengi has recovered from knee soreness during the break, while Joe Johnson could return to the squad after suffering from glandular fever.
All other players who were unable before the break remain out for our visit to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Last time we met
10-man Spurs came away from Kenilworth Road with all three points back in October.
Micky van de Ven scored the only goal of the game after Yves Bissouma was shown a second yellow card in the first half.
Officials
The referee for our fixture against Spurs will be Jarred Gillett.
98 yellow cards and three red cards have been handed out by Gillett across his 23 games this season.
We last had a game officiated by Gillett when we beat Crystal Palace at Kenilworth Road back in November.
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistant Referees: Darren Cann & Neil Davies
Fourth Official: James Linnington
VAR: Michael Salisbury
AVAR: James Mainwaring
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.
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