Match Previews

MATCH PREVIEW | LUTON TOWN V WEST BROMWICH ALBION

The Town will go in search of their first win of the new Sky Bet Championship campaign tomorrow as Slaven Bilic’s West Bromwich Albion side come to Kenilworth Road.

preview-v-wba.png

Graeme Jones’ team have taken a point from their opening two league games, but picked up their first competitive victory of the season on Tuesday night as they defeated Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup.

West Brom on the other hand have four points from their first two second division matches, defeating Nottingham Forest away and drawing at home against Millwall.

The Baggies utilised the final hours of the summer transfer window as they brought in Charlie Austin from Southampton, having scored nearly 250 goals over the course of his career.

Tomorrow’s game will be available for iFollow Hatters subscribers abroad to watch it live, whilst those in the UK who cant make the game can listen to Simon Pitts’ full match commentary.

Contactless card tills will be available around the ground, so please take advantage of these to help speed up queuing.

GRAEME JONES SAID:

Please be aware - these quotes are taken from Graeme’s press conference on Thursday

On West Brom's Chris Brunt: "I have watched some footage today and Chris Brunt came on in one of the games against Millwall, his left foot is an absolute wand. To have that sort of vitality for the game, I think Chris is 35 now, he trained everyday. He was a good lad, a good pro, he is West Brom through and through. So it will be good to see Chris at the weekend, hopefully he wont be on the pitch! But you can never underestimate Chris Brunt."

On training methods and dealing with crosses: "It depends what style of team you’re playing against, I didn’t see as many crosses come in on Tuesday night as they did on Saturday. It’s an area we have looked at - many, many other things. The great thing about Tuesday was it gave us a great opportunity to work with certain players that didn’t play, on Tuesday morning and today, so we will be more than prepared for the game."

On the season so far: "I want to be compeititive, and when you’re competitive and you look at performance, you’ll win games. I think we learned from Cardiff, we played against an ex-Championship team in Ipswich on Tuesday. It wasn’t just a League One team, it was a team that had played at Championship level the season before and it helped us build confidence and helped us build belief we can make the step up. We could have been sitting here with two draws and a win from two really difficult opening games and the League Cup game, barring one minute at Cardiff. So you have to look at the performance, you have to look at the improvement and progress. So far I have been really happy."

WHO?

Now in their second season back in the Championship after an eight year stay in the Premier League, the Baggies have appointed former Croatia and West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic as the man to get them back up to the top tier, replacing Jimmy Shan. Town boss Graeme Jones was assistant manager to Darren Moore at The Hawthorns last season, but parted ways with the Baggies in March.

WHEN AND WHERE?

Kick-off is at 3pm at Kenilworth Road on Saturday 17th August.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE?

Andy Woolmer has refereed one match this season, that coming on the opening weekend, as he oversaw Charlton's win at Blackburn, dishing out three yellow cards.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for this fixture are now sold out.

AWAY SUPPORTERS

If you're a West Bromwich Albion supporter making your way to Kenilworth Road this evening, make sure you have a read of our away supporters' guide to get the most out of your trip to Luton.

PLAYED BEFORE?

Town have faced Albion in two different Cup competitions in recent seasons – with the Hatters defeating the Baggies at Kenilworth Road in the Checkatrade Trophy in 2016, before losing last season in the Carabao Cup 1-0 at the Hawthorns. Of our 44 meetings, Town have won 11 drawn nine and lost 24.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

The main blow-by-blow account of the action from Kenilworth Road will be provided via the Match Centre on the club website, which you can access by clicking here. (*Please note that the club's Live Text will appear only by accessing through an internet browser, users of the Luton Town FC app will receive updates from Opta)

The main moments from the game will appear on the Hatters' social media feeds:

Twitter – @LutonTown

Facebook – www.facebook.com/LutonTown/

Instagram – www.instagram.com/ltfc_official/

And of course Simon Pitts will be on hand to provide commentary for iFollow Hatters which you can subscribe to by clicking here.

Related Content

  1. 01
  2. 02
  3. 03