All eyes on Luton as Mozza targets a final day victory

Brummie Road Ender

·02 de maio de 2025

All eyes on Luton as Mozza targets a final day victory

West Bromwich Albion v Luton Town; The Hawthorns, Saturday 3rd May 2025, 12.30pm

The eyes of Championship fans will be on the Hawthorns on Saturday lunchtime but, unfortunately for Baggies fans, it is the fate of the opposition that is drawing the interest. Having given Derby County a helping hand with a dreadful performance on Easter Monday, Albion put in a better display in the Welsh capital last weekend to claim a point that ultimately condemned Cardiff City to relegation. They now play another role in the fight for survival as anything other than victory for Luton Town at the Shrine could see them suffer back-to-back relegations.

The Baggies, of course, having nothing other than pride to play for, but boy do they need to prove something to the Hawthorns faithful. The capitulation against the Rams a couple of weeks ago was nothing short of disgraceful. Some of the players from that day will not get the chance to redeem themselves with John Swift and Grady Diangana likely to be left out of the starting line up with their exits from the club imminent, but many will get the chance to prove their worth to the fans. Interim boss, James Morrison, may include a number of younger players on the bench but he is unlikely to put them into the starting line up in what is a huge game for the opposition. His pre-match words make it clear that he understands the importance of the game for the integrity of the competition, and that sentiment will not play a part in his team selection – he will pick the team that he feels will have the best chance of winning the game.

Vídeos OneFootball

For the Hatters, it has been a disastrous season. They gave a reasonably good account of themselves in the Premier League last season but seemed to have got used to losing and have struggled back in the Championship all season. Rob Edwards, lauded for getting the club promoted in the first place, was sacked in January and replaced by former Wycombe Wanderers boss, Matt Bloomfield. His appointment looks to have been a positive step although it took several weeks for results to improve. Luton had fallen to the bottom of the table by the time Bloomfield recorded his first victory on 1st March, a 1-0 win over Portsmouth. Including that match, they have picked up 21 points from 11 games with three successive victories in the last fortnight, including home wins over Bristol City and Coventry City, lifting them out of the relegation zone before the final day. However, with Hull City only a point below them, they need three points to be sure of survival, albeit the Tigers’ form doesn’t suggest they will get the victory they need at Portsmouth.

Readers of my Season Comparison post will have seen that Albion haven’t lost a final day home game in the Championship since 2004 and the only such games they haven’t won this century have been in seasons when they won promotion. The Baggies will be able to play without pressure, unlike their opponents, but whether that will see them play somewhere near their best is anyone’s guess.

History

It’s been almost three decades since Luton Town tasted victory at the Hawthorns. Goals from Bontcho Guentchev and Kim Grant gave Lennie Lawrence’s team a 2-0 victory at the Shrine back in April 1996 in front of a mere 15,000 spectators. It brought Alan Buckley’s side into the relegation scrap that Luton were embroiled in but it would prove to be the Baggies’ final defeat of the season as they won four and drew three of their remaining seven games to finish in 11th place. Luton, on the other hand, would pick up just another five points and finished bottom of the table.

Since then, the clubs have met on twelve occasions in major competitions and the Hatters have won just once, a 2-0 win at Kenilworth Road in February 2022. Albion’s last two wins over the Hatters have been 3-2, but in very different ways. In January 2023, Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo gave the hosts a 2-0 lead inside ten minutes at Kenilworth Road, but Daryl Dike pulled one back before the break and two goals in two second half minutes from Jayson Molumby and Conor Townsend completed the turnaround for the visitors. In August 2021, it was Albion who raced into the lead and were 3-0 up with less than half an hour remaining. Harry Cornick pulled one back for Luton but Perry Mpanzu’s goal didn’t arrive until the 98th minute so there was little time for the visitors to complete a remarkable comeback.

Albion’s record win over Luton is 4-0, a result they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in September 1984 thanks to goals from Steve Hunt, Cyrille Regis, Nicky Cross and Garry Thompson. Luton have won only three times at the Hawthorns – in addition to the 2-0 win in 1996, they have won 2-1 on two occasions, in 1946 and on Boxing Day 1985. On that occasion, David Pleat’s team took the lead through Marc North only for Imre Varadi to level the scores before Mick Harford completed the scoring for the afternoon on the stroke of half time.