Preview: Norwich City vs. Luton Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Luton sit outside the playoffs by a solitary point after their victory against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, as Norwich slipped out of the automatic promotion places after their narrow defeat at Watford.

Match preview

Norwich have faltered in the past few weeks, picking up just one win in their past five league games after winning all the six matches before that.

Josh Sargent's cheeky goal right before half time did not kickstart a comeback as strikes from the hosts' Imran Louza - who had missed an earlier penalty - and Keinan Davis gave Slaven Bilic's Hornets all three points.

That meant that Norwich had lost back-to-back home games for the first time this season, following the defeat to Preston North End in their last game at Carrow Road.

A small blip in form does not form the whole Norwich story for this season, though, with Dean Smith's side picking up right where they left off when they were last in the second tier, just a point off top spot.

Much of that is down to the performances of Josh Sargent - the American leads the Championship's goalscoring charts with eight in his 14 appearances so far, taking over the scoring burden from Teemu Pukki.

As a team, Norwich have scored a fourth-highest number of goals so far with 21, and they tend to retain possession easily making it difficult for them to be broken down.

Luton will be looking to control the game in the air as that is where Norwich have struggled consistently and where the Hatters have thrived throughout the season.

Nathan Jones's men will be full of confidence from their 3-1 win over QPR, thanks to goals from Elijah Adebayo, Luke Freeman and an own goal from Jimmy Dunne took them to seventh in the table.

A win at Carrow Road for Luton - who are now unbeaten in six games - could take them above Norwich and back into the playoff places.

The Hatters are one of the in-form teams in the division with three wins from their past six, scoring 12 times and conceding just six in those games, and have only suffered one defeat since August 20.

They have surprised again after losing some key players from the squad that took them to the playoffs last season, but it should not be such a shock anymore as Luton have proven time and again that they belong at the top end of the table.

Heading into the game with Norwich, Luton are unbeaten away from home since the middle of August, winning three of their six games on the road, and producing a solid defensive display in the 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion in their last away encounter.

Norwich City Championship form:

W

D

W

D

L

L

Luton Town Championship form:

D

W

W

D

D

W

Team News

Angus Gunn started for Norwich in the defeat at Watford and saved a penalty so he should keep his place in goal ahead of Tim Krul.

Dimitris Giannoulis could be back on the bench after recovering from his ankle injury, and new signing Isaac Hayden could be drafted into the starting 11 after making his debut off the substitutes' bench on Saturday in place of Marcelino Nunez.

Luton named an unchanged side in the win against QPR and could do so again here.

Reece Burke and James Shea are expected to be back in the fold before the end of October but the game at Norwich could come just a week too soon for the pair.

Norwich City possible starting lineup:

Gunn; Aarons, Omobamidele, Hanley, Byram; Sara, Hayden, McLean; Dowell, Sargent; Pukki

Luton Town possible starting lineup:

Horvath; Lockyer, Bradley, Potts; Bree, Lansbury, Clark, Bell; Campbell; Morris, Adebayo

We say: Norwich City 2-2 Luton Town

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