All you need to know ahead of Friday night’s Sky Bet Championship game
- A match preview ahead of Huddersfield Town vs Luton Town
- The lowdown on Nathan Jones’ Hatters
- Watch the game on Sky Sports or iFollow HTAFC
Huddersfield Town return to the John Smith’s Stadium to host Luton Town in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday 10 July 2020; 6pm kick-off.
The Terriers go into the game looking to build on three successive clean sheets and five points from their last three games.
After beating Birmingham City last week, Danny Cowley’s side have played out goalless draws with Preston North End and Reading.
The stalemate at the Madejski Stadium moved Town on to 47 points and up to 18th place in the Sky Bet Championship table, ahead of Wednesday evening’s fixtures.
Town will be looking to produce a better result than the one they got in the reverse fixture back in August, when they lost 2-1 to the Hatters at Kenilworth Road.
THE OPPOSITION
There’s a familiar face back in the Luton Town ranks since the restart, with Nathan Jones returning as Manager following the departure of his namesake Graeme Jones during the season’s suspension.
The former returned to the Club in May, having guided the Hatters to promotion from League 2 and to the top end of the League 1 table before leaving for Stoke City in January 2019.
Jones has had mixed fortunes since his return, but crucially his side have continued to pick up points in search of a way out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.
Despite currently being at the foot of the table in 24th, Luton have only lost one of Jones’ first five games back in charge – a 5-0 defeat at home to Reading.
Elsewhere, they have drawn with Preston North End, Leeds United and, most recently, Barnsley whilst impressively overcoming Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.
Following recent results, and a run that has seen them only lose three of their last 11 games in total, they are currently four points adrift of a spot outside the relegation zone, and six behind Town.
The Hatters are yet to lose on the road since the restart and will be looking to extend that run when they visit West Yorkshire on Friday evening.
ONES TO WATCH
MATTY PEARSON
Pearson, most frequently deployed as a defender, signed for the Hatters upon their promotion to League 1 from Barnsley in 2018. In his first season with the Club, he was the only Luton Town player to start all 46 of their league games as they topped the third tier and were promoted to the Championship in 2018/19. This season, he has featured from the start in all but one of the Bedfordshire Club’s league games; that being Tuesday night’s draw with Barnsley.
IZZY BROWN
Isaiah ‘Izzy’ Brown is a name well known to Town fans, after the winger spent the second half of the 2016/17 promotion-winning season with the Terriers, on loan from Chelsea. After five goals and picking up an assist in his 21 Town appearances, the attacking midfielder had loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion as well as at Leeds United before joining Luton Town on loan for the 2019/20 season. Coming towards the end of his spell with the Hatters, Brown tops the team’s charts for assists this season with seven in the Sky Bet Championship.
JAMES COLLINS
The forward, who came through the youth ranks at Aston Villa, joined the Hatters in 2017 after a single season with Crawley Town. He became an instant Hatters hero, scoring a hat-trick on his debut against Yeovil Town, before going on to help Luton achieve promotion to League 1. Having then won the League 1 Player of the Year last season, Collins is enjoying his time in the Championship with the Club, topping their scoring charts with 12 league goals to his name.
TEAM NEWS – TOWN
Manager Danny Cowley will provide an update on the fitness of his squad, including that of Fraizer Campbell who missed the Reading trip, ahead of Friday’s game during his virtual press conference on Thursday 9 July 2020.
Tommy Elphick is Town’s only long-term absentee (knee). Juninho Bacuna could return to the team.
TEAM NEWS – LUTON TOWN
Former Town loanee Izzy Brown missed the Hatters’ 1-1 draw with Barnsley on Tuesday evening with an Achilles injury and could miss out on a return to the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday.
KIT
Town will be back in the blue-and-white striped home kit for Friday evening’s game – CLICK HERE to get yours!
iFollow HTAFC
As well as being broadcast on Sky Sports, the game will be available to watch live, in full, on iFollow HTAFC.
2019/20 Season Card holders who have not taken a refund or e-credit will again have free access to the game.
Supporters who are not Season Card holders can buy a match pass to watch the game for £10 - click HERE for more info!
Town's match previews are sponsored by Stafflex!
