MatchOpposition lowdown: Luton Town
Team news
Hatters boss Rob Edwards is selecting from the same squad that he did last weekend, with Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke, Mads Andersen, Dan Potts, Luke Berry and Jordan Clark all ruled out.
The view from Luton
Caoimhe O’Neill, The Athletic
On Luton’s key players
The first one to mention is Tom Lockyer. The Wales central defender has an old-school approach to defending in that he tries to be everywhere all at once. He was the player who collapsed on the pitch in the play-off final and thankfully made a full recovery. He now wears the armband for Luton in the Premier League.
The team’s goalkeeper, Thomas Kaminski, has at least one or two very impressive saves in most games, and watch out for Chiedozie Ogbene on the wing. The Republic of Ireland international gave Tottenham a lot to think about at Kenilworth Road recently and is a thrilling watch.
Jacob Brown is another speedster to look out for and Carlton Morris will do his best to make himself a handful up top. Elijah Adebayo will try to do the same should he start.
Ex-Everton duo Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend are the most high-profile and experienced Premier League players Luton have, alongside holding midfielder Marvelous Nakamba, who used to play for Aston Villa. Nakamba is one of the team’s real leaders.
On the Kenilworth Road atmosphere…
Known locally as ‘the Kenny’ – a nickname I’m sure Liverpool fans will enjoy! – Kenilworth Road can be a real bear pit. The noise can be deafening even if Luton aren’t playing particularly well.
There’s a corner in the Main Stand that does not stop singing all game and they lead the crowd. These fans are living the dream and having Liverpool visit in the Premier League is another day beyond their wildest dreams. I’m sure they’ll make their welcome a ferociously loud one.
The away end is on Oak Road and one of the most bizarre entrances to a football stadium fans are likely to encounter, given it is right in the middle of a terraced street.
Luton ploughed a lot of money into making the ground meet Premier League regulations. Kenilworth Road is very old and somehow flat-packed right into the middle of its community. A lot of fans I’ve met absolutely love the place and it is easy to see why.
Predicted line-up (5-2-3): Kaminski, Kabore, Lockyer, Mengi, Osho, Doughty, Barkley, Nakamba, Brown, Morris, Ogbene.
Recent form
Luton have taken four points from their last five Premier League games, including a 2-1 win at Everton and a 2-2 draw away to Nottingham Forest.
Last weekend, they were beaten 3-1 on the road against Aston Villa.
Morris is their leading scorer in the top flight so far with three goals, while Adebayo has two strikes.
Previous meetings
Liverpool have not met Luton in a league match since January 1992, when late goals from Steve McManaman and Dean Saunders secured a 2-1 win at Anfield. The last league clash at Kenilworth Road, in August 1991, finished goalless.
The sides have played each other since then, however, with Liverpool winning a madcap FA Cup third-round tie 5-3 in 2006 – a game that saw Xabi Alonso score from inside his own half.
Two years later, Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick as the Reds prevailed 5-0 in a third-round replay at Anfield, following a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road.
What they said
Rob Edwards
“We have spoken about how we can try to hurt them as well, and the spaces that they might leave. Clearly we’ve got to be good at that, we’ve got to be clinical. At the right times it’s quick and kill, or whether it’s calm and composed to try to play away from the press that’s going to come. Like any team, they are always going to give something away, it’s just whether we can expose that on the day as well. So, there’ll be a plan there and we’ll try to use certain players in certain areas to try to hurt them as well.
“It’s another opportunity for us to try to win a game, as was Aston Villa away last week. We know how difficult the challenge was, I said after the game that we’re not going to be defined by these games. But it’s an opportunity for us to win; it’s an opportunity for us if we don’t win, to try to get something from it. So we don’t see it that way [as a free hit] at all.
“I understand the question of course. Liverpool are a massive club and a team that are doing really, really well at the moment as well. They’ll be huge favourites for the game but we see it as a chance, if we get things right and execute what we want to try to do. We’re going to have to be very good and we’ll probably need to have a little bit of luck as well – maybe they’ll have to be off it a little bit – but it’s a chance for us to win a game of football so we don’t see it as a free hit, no.”
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