Friday night's Premier League offering sees an Everton side already assured of survival travel to a Luton Town outfit still scrapping for their top-flight status at Kenilworth Road.
While the Toffees prolonged their perpetual Premier League stay by beating Brentford 1-0 last weekend, their hosts are staring down the barrel of demotion owing to a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Match preview
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An applaudable run of festive form may have raised Luton hopes of a second successive year in the big time, but the Hatters' survival prospects are now out of their own hands, as they were condemned to a third-straight Premier League defeat at Molineux last weekend.
On the back of 5-1 hammerings at the hands of Manchester City and Brentford, Rob Edwards's men were put to the sword by Hwang Hee-chan and Toti in the West Midlands, where Carlton Morris's 10th goal of the campaign 10 minutes from the end was not enough to spark a fightback.
With Sheffield United already condemned to Championship football and Brentford and Everton guaranteed to finish above the dotted line, a nerve-jangling three-way fight for survival has now ensued between Burnley, Luton and Nottingham Forest, the latter of whom are currently on course to stay up.
Luton, occupying 18th position, have a one-point gap to make up to the Tricky Trees and are one clear of Burnley, but it is the Clarets who have the toughest run-in for their final three fixtures, clashing with Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur before a relegation six-pointer with Forest.
Edwards's men cannot concern themselves with matters in Lancashire, though, especially as they have just one win to show from their last 14 matches in the Premier League; across the top-four tiers of English football, only Sheffield United and Rotherham United can boast an equally appalling record.
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The Hatters can at least fall back on a 13-game scoring sequence in top-flight home games and will be keeping their fingers crossed that Everton may take their foot off the gas pedal a tad, having already guaranteed themselves a spot at England's top table for the 2024-25 campaign.
Hosting a Brentford side who had coincidentally been assured of their own Premier League status before kickoff at Goodison Park, the Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski-inspired Toffees defence kept the Bees at bay without too much trouble, and Idrissa Gueye would make himself the hero at the other end of the field.
Now sitting pretty in the security of 15th spot and safe in the knowledge that they will not suffer a first-ever relegation from the Premier League - barring any more points penalties - Sean Dyche's charges will now be looking up the division rather than down and are revelling in a three-game winning sequence.
Merseyside rivals Liverpool and Nottingham Forest also left Goodison Park without any points or goals to their name in April, but Everton's away exploits remain as dire as ever, as they have now gone 10 road matches without victory in all tournaments, scoring a paltry four times in that shoddy sequence.
Furthermore, Luton have already departed Merseyside with two triumphs over Everton to shout about this season, earning a pair of 2-1 successes in the Premier League - their maiden win in the tournament - and FA Cup, but the Toffees' last visit to Kenilworth Road in the 2007-08 EFL Cup ended in a 1-0 victory thanks to Tim Cahill's extra-time strike.
Team News
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Luton's fight against the drop has not been helped by their perpetual injury crisis, and Edwards is sure to be without another seven stricken players for Friday's game, including Tom Lockyer, who has claimed that he would be at "peace" with retirement after his cardiac arrest.
Issa Kabore (ankle), Marvelous Nakamba (knee), Jacob Brown (knee), Amari'i Bell (hamstring), Dan Potts (thigh) and Chiedozie Ogbene (thigh) are out of contention too, and Edwards has also admitted that he must weigh up risk vs. reward when it comes to Mads Andersen's calf issue.
On a rare positive note, the defeat to Wolves saw nine-goal striker Elijah Adebayo earn 12 minutes off the bench following a two-and-a-half-month absence with a hamstring problem, and as now is not the time for the Hatters to err on the side of caution, the 26-year-old will likely come into contention for a start here.
Reuniting with the side he previously made 150 top-flight appearances for from 2011 to 2017, Ross Barkley continues to excel in the Luton midfield but has only ever scored one goal in 10 games versus erstwhile employers, striking against Chelsea in a 3-2 loss earlier this term.
The Everton medical team have also been handed a few new faces to nurse back to health in the closing stages of the campaign, including Vitaliy Mykolenko, who will sit out the remainder of the season with the ankle problem he picked up during the Merseyside derby success over Liverpool.
Nathan Patterson (thigh) and Dele Alli (groin) are in the same boat, while Beto is still on the mend after his distressing head injury against Forest, but he has been cleared to return to training and might be in contention to play on Friday.
Seamus Coleman (groin) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (illness) are also on Dyche's touch-and-go list, while Lewis Dobbin has returned from an ankle issue for the Under-21s but is not being considered for senior selection just yet.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Mengi, Burke, Osho; Hashioka, Lokonga, Barkley, Doughty; Chong; Morris, Adebayo
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Godfrey, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young; Harrison, Garner, Gueye, McNeil; Doucoure; Calvert-Lewin
We say: Luton Town 2-1 Everton
Ensuring themselves of a Premier League place for 2024-25 should not see Everton's effort levels plummet, but performances and indeed goals have been extremely difficult to come by on the road for Dyche's men, who can be forgiven for conserving their energy stores and doing their utmost to avoid serious injuries on Friday.
Facing a fired-up Luton side who have a penchant for goals at Kenilworth Road and have already got the better of them twice this season, Dyche's men may be kept waiting for their first away success of 2024, as the hosts do their utmost to reignite their survival chances.
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Ben Knapton
