Burnleyvs.Luton

The Clarets head into the weekend in third spot in the Championship table, while the Hatters are languishing in the relegation zone.

Match preview

Burnley are fully focused on their promotion bid after their FA Cup campaign came to an end with a 3-0 defeat against Preston North End in last Saturday's fifth-round tie.

The Clarets returned to winning ways in Tuesday's away league clash against Cardiff City despite conceding a Championship goal for the first time since December 21.

Josh Brownhill and Maxime Esteve grabbed a goal apiece to establish a two-goal lead, before Cardiff's Yousef Salech found the net to end Burnley's 12-game run of clean sheets in the Championship.

Crucially, the Clarets kept Burnley at bay for the remainder of the contest to seal all three points and extend their unbeaten run to 22 league matches, leaving them two points adrift of second-placed Sheffield United with 11 games left to play.

After enjoying a successful trip to the Welsh capital, they will now return to the familiar surroundings of Turf Moor, with the hosts looking to record a fourth consecutive Championship home win.

The Clarets have avoided defeat in each of their last nine league encounters against Luton, including a commanding 4-1 win on their trip to Kenilworth Road in August.

While Burnley are bidding to make an immediate return to the Premier League, Luton are at risk of suffering back-to-back relegations after mustering just 31 points from 35 league matches this season.

The Hatters are down in 22nd place with five points separating them from safety, although they will travel to Turf Moor with renewed belief after they ended a 12-game winless run in last Saturday's home meeting with Portsmouth.

Jordan Clark's 25th-minute effort proved enough to guide Luton to a 1-0 victory, representing Matt Bloomfield's first win since taking over the reins in January.

Luton will now head on their travels with aspirations of winning back-to-back league games for the first time since September, although claiming three points will be a tall order given the fact Burnley are yet to lose a home match in the Championship this season.

The Hatters are also enduring a woeful run of form on their travels, having lost 13 of their previous 14 away league games, including 2-0 defeats in their last two road trips against Sunderland and Watford.

The visitors can at least draw inspiration from the fact they have avoided defeat in each of their last nine away league games against Burnley (W3, D5).

Burnley Championship form:

D

W

W

D

W

W

Burnley form (all competitions):

W

W

D

W

L

W

Luton Town Championship form:

D

L

L

D

L

W

Team News

The hosts are expected to be without the services of Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey and Mike Tresor due to their respective injury issues.

Chelsea loanee Bashir Humphreys will miss a fourth consecutive match with a quad injury he picked up in training last month.

Burnley boss Scott Parker could be tempted to select the same lineup that started Tuesday's 2-1 away win over Cardiff.

As for the Hatters, they are without Shandon Baptiste and Marvelous Nakamba, who both sustained calf injuries in last month's derby defeat to Watford.

The pair are joined on Luton's injury list by Reece Burke, Daiki Hashioka, Teden Mengi and Tahith Chong, although they can now call upon Kal Naismith and Mark McGuinness after the pair returned to the squad last weekend.

Winter addition Christ Makosso is expected to retain his place in the back three after he made his first Championship start in the win over Portsmouth.

Burnley possible starting lineup:

Trafford; Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Pires; Brownhill, Cullen; Edwards, Mejbri, Anthony; Flemming

Luton Town possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Makosso, Naismith, Bell; Jones, Clark, Aasgaard, Walsh, Doughty; Morris, Brown

We say: Burnley 2-0 Luton Town

While Luton would have been buoyed by their recent win over Portsmouth, Saturday's fixture against a promotion contender represents a much tougher test, especially as they have lost 13 of the last 14 away league games.

Written by

Ben Sully

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