Burnley-Luton Town is a match on the twenty-first day of the Premier League and is played Friday at 8:45pm: TV, likely lineups, predictions.
The Premier League returns after the binge of matches in the days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and the first week of 2024 entirely dedicated, as per tradition, to national cups. It will be a salvation clash to open the twenty-first day: facing two newly promoted sides, Burnley and Luton Town, who are desperately trying to get out of the relegation zone, in which they have been confined for months along with bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United.
Who fares better, between the two, is Luton, and not only because they have four more points in the standings than the Clarets, who are stuck at 11. The Hatters, who moreover have to make up the match with Bournemouth-canceled last Dec. 16 due to the collapse on the field of their captain Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest-are by no means far from the fourth-last, Everton, ahead by only a pasting. Two consecutive victories at the turn of Christmas Eve and Boxing Day against Newcastle and Sheffield have allowed Rob Edwards’s team to believe in salvation once again. And in their last outing of 2023, Luton put a scare into the better-ranked Chelsea, which after going ahead by three goals at Kenilworth Road risked a resounding comeback (2-3).
Three points that weigh
Since the match with the Blues, the Hatters have taken the field only once, drawing 0-0 with Bolton in the FA Cup, which will force them into the troublesome replay (the repetition of the match).
Already finished instead is the adventure in the most important national cup for Burnley, which surrendered 1-0 to Tottenham last Friday. Vincent Kompany’s team prefers to devote itself heart and soul to the league, as the next few months will be decisive to get back in the race for safety. The Clarets in the last six days of the championship have scored only 4 points, the result of the draw with Brighton from the win with Fulham.
The Prediction
Nobody in the Premier League has done worse than Burnley at home: at Turf Moor the Clarets have picked up barely three points, with a terrifying tally of one win and as many as nine defeats. It would not be a surprise, then, if Luton Town can at least avoid defeat: the Hatters concede a lot of goals but in the last period they have hurt the best defenses in the tournament, including Arsenal and Manchester City, by scoring more than one goal. Both should score at least one goal on each side.
Burnley-Luton Town
likely lineups.
BURNLEY (4-4-2): Trafford; Vitinho, O’Shea, Beyer, Roberts; Tresor, Berge, Brownhill, Odobert; Amdouni, Rodriguez.
LUTON TOWN (3-4-3): Kaminski; Osho, Mengi, Bell; Doughty, Barkley, Lokonga, Giles; Townsend, Adebayo, Brown.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
