Luton Town and Wigan Athletic will do battle at Kenilworth Road on Saturday with a place in the FA Cup fourth round up for grabs.
Kolo Toure is continuing his search for a first win as manager of the visitors, while their hosts' new boss Rob Edwards has enjoyed a strong start in the hot seat.
Match preview
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Luton Town will kick off their FA Cup campaign on Saturday in high spirits, having enjoyed a positive start to life under the new management of Rob Edwards following Nathan Jones's departure prior to the World Cup break.
On their return to action in December, and in Edwards's first game in the hot seat, the Hatters would suffer a narrow defeat in a tough contest away at Middlesbrough, but they have since put three straight Championship wins together, firstly beating Norwich City 2-1 before triumphing 3-0 away at Queens Park Rangers as Carlton Morris hit a brace and Alfie Doughty added an eye-catching third late on.
Having strengthened their position in the fight for playoff places with those results, the Bedfordshire outfit most recently took on Huddersfield Town away from home on New Year's Day, and after going 1-0 down, they would draw level through Amari'i Bell before Reece Burke sealed another three-point haul with a decisive 84th-minute goal.
Such a result saw the Hatters climb to seventh spot in England's second tier, and now only trailing Millwall in the final playoff place on goal difference, they will briefly put their league efforts on hold and hope to continue building momentum with what would be a fourth straight win in all competitions.
After reaching the fifth round last season, before eventually losing narrowly to Chelsea, Luton will bid to book a place in the fourth round when they welcome a struggling Wigan Athletic side to Kenilworth Road.
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Unlike his counterpart, new Wigan Athletic manager Kolo Toure has not enjoyed a strong start to life in his new role, with the Ivorian still yet to oversee a win.
He was also brought in prior to the World Cup break, following the dismissal of Leam Richardson with the Latics struggling at the bottom end of the Championship, and they have since dropped to the foot of the division having won just one of their last 13 outings.
On their return to action in December, the Lancashire outfit firstly drew away at Millwall before suffering a narrow defeat at home to Sheffield United, and they now head into the weekend on the back of three straight 4-1 defeats having been comfortably beaten by Middlesbrough and Sunderland after Christmas.
They then took on Hull City last time out and were again beaten by the same scoreline, despite Nathan Broadhead pulling the game back to 2-1 soon after the hour mark, as Tyler Smith hit a late brace to seal an emphatic away win for the Tigers.
Now desperately in need of a change in form, having been cut three points adrift of safety, and inspiration under their new boss, the Latics will hope to turn a corner starting with what would be an impressive cup triumph at Kenilworth Road to advance to the fourth round for just the third time since they won the competition and then reached the semi-finals in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons respectively.
Team News
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After a busy Championship schedule since league action resumed in December, the two sides may look to make some rotations to allow for rests for key players, and Luton top scorer Carlton Morris, who has notched up 10 second-tier goals so far this season, is likely to sit out with Cauley Woodrow expected to be given a chance from the start in his place.
Their options for rotation are somewhat limited, though, with the likes of Sonny Bradley, Fred Onyedinma and Henri Lansbury set to continue spells on the sidelines through injury.
Reece Burke should come into the defence from the outset, while Harry Cornick and Luke Berry are also set to be given a chance having somewhat struggled for regular starts throughout the season.
Wigan Athletic have an unenviable injury list to deal with, particularly in defence, as young centre-back Charlie Hughes was forced off early in the Sunderland defeat after Jack Whatmough, Tom Pearce and Jason Kerr were already ruled out, although Whatmough did return last time out and may again have to partner Curtis Tilt in the middle of a back four.
Everton loanee Nathan Broadhead scored their only goal off the bench in that game, and he may come back in from the outset as the key frontman unless Toure again opts to deploy Ashley Fletcher up front as he goes in search of some confidence and a first goal of the season.
Thelo Aasgard should come into an attacking role from the start on Saturday, while Tom Naylor is also likely to return alongside Max Power in the engine room.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Horvath; Bree, Burke, Potts; Doughty, Berry, Watson, Bell; Cornick, Jerome, Woodrow
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Jones; Darikwa, Whatmough, Tilt, Bennett; Power, Naylor; Lang, Keane, Aasgard; Fletcher
We say: Luton Town 3-1 Wigan Athletic
Luton will come into the game with far more confidence and momentum than their opponents, and even if the likes of Morris are rested from the start, we can still only envisage the Hatters progressing thanks to their superior quality.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Sam Varley
