After the late loss at Spurs last weekend, Oliver Glasner brings his Palace side back home for an important fixture against Luton Town who are looking to escape ffrom the bottom three.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 3pm – 9th March 2024
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
The last time Luton came to South London was February 2007. The Eagles took the lead right on half time courtesy of Danny Butterfield. Shorly after the break, the visitors levelled things up as Mark Hudson put through his own net, but it was that man Cinton Morrison who stepped up to score the winner with a little over twenty minutes left to play.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Sunny Singh Gill (pictured). Assistants: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh. Fourth official: Tim Robinson. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.
Referee Sunny Singh Gill is set to make Premier League history this weekend when he takes charge of this match. He will become the first British South Asian to referee a match in the competition, and the seventh referee outside of PGMOL’s (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) Select Group to take charge of a Premier League match this season.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Cheick Doucoure, Rob Holding, Michael Olise, Marc Guehi, and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi are all expected to continue to be ruled out. Jordan Ayew will be assessed after taking a knock against Spurs but is likely to feature.
LUTON – Thomas Lockyer, Marvelous Nakamba, Dan Potts, Elijah Adebayo, Jacob Brown, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Amari’i Bell, and Mads Andersen are all likely to miss out. Gabriel Osho and Joseph Johnson are doubts.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – Jordan Ayew (1)
YELLOW CARDS (5+) – Jefferson Lerma (7), Jordan Ayew (6), Tyrick Mitchell (5), Issa Kabore (5), Marvelous Nakamba (5)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 25/11/23 Luton 2-1 Palace
- 24/02/07 Palace 2-1 Luton
- 09/09/06 Luton 2-0 Palace
- 26/11/05 Luton 2-0 Palace
- 06/08/05 Palace 1-2 Luton
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 02/03/24 Spurs 3-1 Palace
- 24/02/24 Palace 3-0 Burnley
- 21/02/24 Everton 1-1 Palace
- 12/02/24 Palace 1-3 Chelsea
- 03/02/24 Brighton 4-1 Palace
Last FIVE results for Luton;
- 02/03/24 Luton 2-3 Villa
- 27/02/24 Luton 2-6 Manchester City
- 21/02/24 Liverpool 4-1 Luton
- 18/02/24 Luton 1-2 Manchester United
- 10/02/24 Luton 1-3 Sheffield United
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 14th in the Premier League with 28 points from 27 games played, while Luton are 18th with 20 points from 26 games.
RECORD AGAINST LUTON
- Played 58
- Won 23
- Drawn 16
- Lost 19
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Michael Olise 7.54
- Eberechi Eze 7.25
- Ross Barkley 7.22
- Alfie Doughty 6.88
ONE TO WATCH
ROSS BARKLEY
FORMER CLUBS – Everton, Sheffield Wednesday (loan), Leeds United (loan), Chelsea, Aston Villa (loan), Nice
The 30-year-old midfielder has had an excellent season for the Hatters with many teams perhaps ruing the decision not to have taken a punt on him when he was available after leaving Nice. His form has been so good that many are suggesting that he has an outside chance of making the England squad for the Euros in the summer. Barkley has 33 full international caps to date.
KEY CLASH
ADAM WHARTON v ROSS BARKLEY
This will be a fascinating battle in the middle of the park, with the young Palace man making his way at the top level of the game against a player that is enjoying a flurry as he edges towards the twilight of his career.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Edouard, Eze, Olise (6)
- ASSISTS – Ayew (6)
- PASSES – Andersen (1537)
- TACKLES – Mitchell (72 – 6th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Andersen (1903)
- SHOTS – Eze (49)
- FOULS – Ayew (38 – 7th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Ayew (67 – 1st in PL)
- SAVES – Johnstone (40)
- CLEARANCES – Andersen (132 – 2nd in PL)
- BIG CHANCES MISSED – Edouard (5)
THE NUMBERS
This will be Palace’s first home league game against Luton Town since February 2007 in the Championship (won 2-1), and first in the top flight since a 1-1 draw in February 1992
After their 2-1 win in November, Luton could complete only their fourth ever league double over Palace, after 1936-37 (Third Division South), 1973-74 (second tier), and 2005-06 (Championship)
Palace have won 4 of their 5 Premier League games against promoted sides this season, though the exception was a 2-1 loss at Luton in the reverse fixture. The promoted team that most recently achieved the double over the Eagles were Sheffield United in 2019-20
Palace have won 3 of their past 4 Premier League games at Selhurst Park (L1), as many as their previous 13 beforehand (D5 L5). The Eagles have scored exactly 3 goals in each of those 3 wins, after having only scored 3 or more goals in 3 of their previous 31 home league matches prior to this
Luton have lost each of their past 4 Premier League games. They have not lost 5 league matches in a row since November 2019 in the Championship. In the top flight, the Hatters last had a longer losing run within a single season from November-December 1974 (six games)
Only James Ward-Prowse (6) has more assists from set-plays in the Premier League this season than Alfie Doughty, with 5 of the Luton full-back’s 6 assists so far this term coming from set-pieces.
TEB PREDICTION
With the visitors on a losing run heading into this game, Palace fans could be forgiven for thinking that the script has already been written. Having said that, it is going to be interesting to see how things will evolve as liver Glasner and his staff get their ideas across to the team. This could be a goal fest but not one sided as Luton are battling for their lives, but after the loss at Spurs last weekend, this is a must not lose fixture to keep teams down there at arms length. We expect an Eze inspired victory.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2
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