Luton Town are on the road for the first time this season as we travel to Fratton Park to face Championship newcomers Portsmouth.
Rob Edwards’ side look for a first win of the season after defeat at home to Burnley on Monday night.
Words from the gaffer
Edwards admitted that there were several positives to take from the Burnley game but there is much to work on.
“We don’t want to concede goals, we want to score goals,” said Edwards. “Looking back on the game, we made a couple of mistakes, and they didn’t make many mistakes, and we had to score a good goal.
“I thought some of the young players were huge pluses, and I hope that people back them for a long time especially to come into a big game like that they were huge positives.
“We are going to Portsmouth, who are used to winning, they won a league title last season and were impressive.
“To go to Elland Road and get a result there last weekend is possibly one of the toughest places so it’s going to be difficult.
“Fratton Park is quite loud and hostile, a bit like the Kenny just with more numbers. We need to go down there and if we play how we want.”
The opposition
Portsmouth are back in the Sky Bet Championship after winning League One last season, finishing on 97 points.
John Mousinho’s Pompey side sit in 11th following their opening day 3-3 draw away at Leeds before being beaten at home in the Carabao Cup first round by Millwall.
Callum Lang emerged as the one to watch after his brace on opening day at Elland Road last Saturday.
Team news
Jamaican international Amari'i Bell has been training after he was on the bench against Burnley, Edwards claimed that the defender is still not ready to be in the starting line-up.
Jordan Clark, who missed out on Monday night’s defeat due to injury, was involved in a light training session on Friday but is unlikely to be involved at Fratton Park.
Mads Andersen, Reece Burke, Jacob Brown, Daiki Hashioka and Marvelous Nakamba are all still unavailable for the trip to the south coast.
Last time we met
The Town were pushing for the League One title the last time these two teams met in January 2019.
We came out on top in a five-goal thriller in the snow with goals from James Collins and George Moncur gifting the Town all three points.
Officials
The referee for our fixture against Portsmouth will be John Busby.
Five yellow cards were handed out by Busby on the opening day of the Championship season.
Busby previously refereed us against Celta Vigo in pre-season with the last league game being a 1-0 win against Bristol City in March 2023.
Referee: John Busby
Assistant Referees: Lee Venamore & Robert Hyde
Fourth Official: Charles Breakspear
Love Football. Protect The Game.
Luton Town Football Club has committed in its customer charter to providing safe matchday experiences for all supporters regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation, and this applies equally to home and away fixtures.
In the event that any Luton supporters do make discriminatory chants, the Club will work with the police and football authorities to help identify such individuals. Any such fans would then face the strictest club sanctions, including football banning orders that would prevent them attending any matches, in addition to any criminal charges.
The Club can also be held responsible for the behaviour of its supporters, which could lead to substantial fines being imposed.
As a diverse and inclusive football club, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our fellow EFL clubs in supporting the FA’s ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’ campaign and call on all fans to enjoy the game in a positive spirit.
If you are offended by any discriminatory abuse of any kind at any of our games, you can report it by clicking here, or by contacting your nearest steward immediately. Alternatively, email myvoice@lutontown.co.uk or report the incident via Kick it Out's free, confidential reporting app on the App Store and Google Play.
