Tottenham Hotspur vs Luton Town

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium forms the backdrop for a high-stakes Premier League encounter between top-four hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur and relegation-fighting Luton Town.

March’s international break came at an opportune moment for Tottenham after fellow London rivals Fulham humbled them 3-0, leaving them three points adrift of the Premier League top-four. Moreover, Spurs relinquished an impressive 38-game scoring run in that contest. Despite the odds, Ange Postecoglou’s side can’t expect to have a walk in the park against a Luton side they barely defeated 1-0 in the reverse fixture in October. They can draw confidence from winning six of their last seven league outings on home turf (L1). But Postecoglou has yet to address Tottenham’s defensive woes, which have seen them concede in ten consecutive Premier League matches in North London (W6, L4). Interestingly, their last three home league victories have seen them fight back from a deficit to claim three points.

Goals used to be at a premium for Luton in the early season, but they’ve averaged 1.7 goals per game since losing to Tottenham on Gamweek 8. But there’s a feeling that manager Rob Edwards sacrificed defensive soundness to get things going up top, with the Hatters conceding an alarming average of 2.1 goals per match during that sequence. Despite taking this trip amid a dreadful eight-game winless league run (D3, L5), bookended by a 1-1 home draw against Nottingham Forest last time out, the visitors are still narrowly outside the danger zone, holding a one-point lead on 18th-placed Forest. An underwhelming win ratio of only 14% on their Premier League travels (W2, D4, L8) is part of the problem, not least because they’ve yet to win an away league game in 2024 (D3, L2).