Kenilworth Road is the venue for a bottom-half Premier League scrap on Saturday afternoon, when Luton Town pit their wits against Bournemouth.
The Hatters' midweek sojourn to Arsenal ended in an expected 2-0 defeat, whereas Andoni Iraola's side edged closer to the top 10 by eking out a 1-0 triumph over Crystal Palace.
Match preview
Four days on from putting in a terrific shift against Tottenham Hotspur, only to suffer a 2-1 defeat, a similar tale arose for Luton in North London on Wednesday night, when they sought to prevent Arsenal from rising back to the top of the Premier League standings.
Rob Edwards's men - despite their unenviable injury list - did not roll over and accept defeat versus the Gunners, who often struggled to pick the Luton lock, but Martin Odegaard's drive and a Daiki Hashioka own goal at the end of the first half was enough to send the Hatters home empty-handed.
In spite of their valiant efforts in their successive North London encounters, Luton remain without a Premier League win since thrashing Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 at the end of January, only acquiring three points from the last 30 on offer in the top flight to remain in deep trouble.
Thanks to Nottingham Forest's triumph over Fulham, Edwards's men occupy 18th place with a three-point gap to safety, and by failing to make one of their few forays forward against Arsenal count in midweek, their 18-game scoring streak in the Premier League also came to a bitter end.
The relegation-battling hosts still possess a taste for goals at Kenilworth Road, though, netting in 11 straight top-flight home matches since being shut out by Tottenham Hotspur in October, although Edwards's men are also without a clean sheet in their last four on home territory.
As Luton fight for their lives near the foot of the table, a resurgent Bournemouth have rediscovered their stellar form from the Christmas period to threaten a top-half breakthrough, extending their winning sequence to three matches when Palace visited the Vitality.
Three days on from a dramatic beating of Everton, Iraola's men prolonged the feel-good factor on the South Coast by virtue of Justin Kluivert's strike with 11 minutes of normal time remaining, which proved to be the decisive moment in a closely-fought affair.
Unbeaten since suffering FA Cup quarter-final heartbreak at the hands of Leicester City at the end of February, 12th spot in the Premier League table currently belongs to the red-hot Cherries, who dropped down a place owing to Chelsea's sensational 4-3 beating of Manchester United on Thursday.
Then again, each of Bournemouth's last four matches has been played at the comfort of their Vitality home, whereas they boast just one victory from their last five Premier League contests on rival turf, although that was their most recent stopover - a 2-0 win on Burnley's soil at the start of March.
Nevertheless, three points on Saturday would see Bournemouth match their best-ever Premier League tally of six away wins in a single season - set in the 2015-16 term - and it has been just three weeks since the Cherries pulled off an outrageous comeback in March's rearranged clash with Luton, fighting back from 3-0 down to miraculously triumph 4-3.
Team News
Edwards ought to have breathed a huge sigh of relief to see no more of his troops pick up injuries in the loss to Arsenal, where Tahith Chong and Alfie Doughty both shook off knocks sustained in the Tottenham defeat to make the matchday squad.
However, Reece Burke (Achilles) could not recover in time and is a doubt for the visit of the Cherries, while Gabriel Osho (knee), Jacob Brown (knee), Amari'i Bell (thigh), Elijah Adebayo (thigh), Marvelous Nakamba (knee), Albert Sambi Lokonga (thigh), Mads Andersen (calf), Dan Potts (thigh) and Chiedozie Ogbene (thigh) remain out of contention.
The hosts' fitness crisis allowed Fred Onyedinma to make his first Premier League start at the Emirates on Wednesday, and having held his own against the title chasers on the right-hand side, the 27-year-old warrants a second successive selection to the first XI.
As far as Bournemouth are concerned, the Cherries' treatment room has begun to empty out in recent weeks, with only Ryan Fredericks (calf) and Luis Sinisterra (thigh) definitely missing from the ranks this week.
Marcos Senesi may win his race to recover from a thigh injury in time though, and Bournemouth's defensive unit could be bolstered further by the return of Chris Mepham, absent from the squad to square off with Palace due to illness, which has also affected a couple of others in the visitors' squad.
Highly-rated midfielder Alex Scott only lasted until half time against Crystal Palace and is seemingly at risk of losing his place to Antoine Semenyo or Kluivert, who needs just one more goal to match the six that his esteemed father Patrick Kluivert struck for Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Hashioka, Mengi, Kabore; Onyedinma, Mpanzu, Barkley, Doughty; Townsend, Clark; Morris
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Smith, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Kelly; Cook, Christie; Semenyo, Billing, Kluivert; Solanke
We say: Luton Town 1-2 Bournemouth
Saturday's competitors certainly have a lot to live up to after last month's seven-goal extravaganza at the Vitality Stadium, and neutral fans wishing for a repeat of that engrossing encounter will likely see their pleas fall on deaf ears.
Luton's loss to Arsenal was not for the want of trying, though, and we can picture Edwards's men quickly returning to scoring ways, but their defensive absentees should catch up to them again as Iraola's in-form troops keep up their top-half pursuit.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
