Beware the wounded and under-performing Hatter…
Today at 01:41 AM
At the time of writing Luton still have manager Rob Edwards in charge.
But coming off the back of a 3-0 defeat (albeit at Leeds) and with a record of five wins, three draws and nine defeats, for a newly relegated side that was heavily fancied to challenge for promotion, few seats are hotter in football right now than Edwards'.
The Hatters form this season has been perplexing. After their heroic promotion two years ago was followed up by a far-from-disastrous shot at the Premier League, there seemed to be little to suggest they would struggle to reacclimate to the Championship.
With only losing Ross Barkley, Chiedozie Ogbene and Ryan Giles upon relegation, they looked to have a physically capable squad, who were well-equipped to punch their weight with anyone in this league.
However, Luton have struggled mightily, and at no point this season have they been able to establish any momentum to drag themselves up the table. They currently sit in 16th and are undoubtedly the most underperforming side in the Championship this season.
Edwards favours a 3-5-2 formation, which will be an interesting one to match up to our own 4-3-3, and you can imagine that the side that wins the most individual duals will be the favourite to take all three points.
Edwards has rotated his options a lot in recent weeks as he's reacted to poor performances, such as the 5-1 defeat at Middlesbrough, and with Wednesday night’s 3-0 loss at Leeds drawing criticism of his players from Edwards, it would be no surprise if he shuffled his pack again.
In goal, Belgian Thomas Kaminski is a quality shot-stopper and keeps Tim Krul out of the team.
At centre-back, Mark McGuinness was the big signing of the summer, costing a whopping £11.7m from Cardiff and, alongside highly-rated England U21 defender Teden Mengi, looks to be one of the more settled starters. Alongside them, Edwards tends to favour either former Reading stopper Tom Holmes or Amari'i Bell, who can also play at left wing-back.
Dane Mads Andersen has been blighted with injury since arriving at Kenilworth Rd and won't be an option.
At right wing-back, Reece Burke has started the last couple of games but had a bit of a stinker against Leeds by all accounts and it would be no surprise if he dropped to the bench. Other alternatives would be Japanese international Daiki Hashioka or Arsenal academy graduate, Reuell Walters.
At left wing-back, Alfie Doughty is probably Luton's best player over the past couple of seasons but has struggled with injury recently. Victor Moses started against Leeds and it's likely he will retain his place or Bell will move up from centre-back.
In midfield, it has again been a bit of a revolving door. The combative Tom Krauss, on loan from Mainz, has been a regular but is another who might have played himself out of the team with a poor showing against Leeds.
Former Villa player, Marvellous Nakamba has been a plus since returning from injury and it would be a surprise if he made way, although too many minutes in a short space of time so soon into his recovery might count against him.
The other options in the middle are box-to-box man Jordan Clark, former Brentford powerhouse Shandon Baptiste, Liam Walsh, acquired on a free from Swansea in the summer, or Dutchman Tahith Chong who tends to operate as the more attacking option in midfield.
The long-serving Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu is still around as well if needed.
Up front has been another position of constant change this season for the Hatters, with our academy star Carlton Morris having started the last game against Leeds alongside former Stoke striker Jacob Brown, while the game before that he partnered the enigmatic 6'4 Elijah Adebayo, who can either greatly trouble defences with his pace and strength or disappear without trace.
Former Barnsley man Cauley Woodrow has been another occasional starter too.
Luton have got a lot of good players for the Championship, and Edwards has proven himself more than capable at this level, so it remains a mystery as to why Luton are not doing better.
They play a condensed, physical style that Norwich can often struggle with and we're unlikely to benefit from the wide open spaces to play in that Wayne Rooney generously allowed us on Tuesday.
However, with the form that Borja Sainz is in, coupled with the high we are on after Plymouth and the return of some of our key players, we have to be favourites tomorrow.
I'm going to predict a 2-0 win, with Ante Crnac continuing his good form following his breakthrough performance on Tuesday.
