Luton v Portsmouth preview: Team news, head-to-head, line-ups, prediction
Portsmouth could make it four wins on the bounce in the Championship with victory over Luton Town this weekend.
While Pompey’s away form has been far from glamorous this campaign, they won their last away outing at Oxford United, sandwiched by successive home wins over Cardiff City and QPR.
The trip to Kenilworth Road on Saturday (1 March) comes against basement side Luton, who are battling to avoid a double drop into League One come May.
Portsmouth travel to bottom-placed club
Portsmouth are facing the bottom club this Saturday, but it is unlikely to be an easy ride – Kenilworth Road is a cauldron and Luton will try and make things difficult.
The two teams played out a goalless draw at Fratton Park in the reverse fixture early on in the season, with Luton dominating until their goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was sent off.
From then on, John Mousinho’s side were in full command but just couldn’t find a way past substitute stopper James Shea in the Hatters’ goal.
Portsmouth have stuck with Mousinho and learnt many lessons in the following months, and will be keen to make it four wins in a row against Matt Bloomfield’s men, low on confidence and wondering where their next win is coming from.
Luton have not emerged successful from a game since a frantic affair against Derby County on 20 December, from which they came out 2-1 winners.
Championship form guide
Luton Town: LDLLD
Portsmouth: WWWLD
Head-to-Head
Saturday’s fixture will be the 55th competitive meeting between Portsmouth and Luton Town, the Hatters having come out on top 23 times to Pompey’s 17.
The sides won one apiece of the two league meetings in League One during 2018-19, with Luton beating the Blues 1-0 in the FA Cup in November 2017.
Between 2014 and 2017, the clubs faced off six times in League Two back when both were suffering in the financial doldrums; Portsmouth were unbeaten from those meetings, winning four, including a 3-1 success in 2016 which was their last win at Kenilworth Road.
Luton Town v Portsmouth team news
Portsmouth supporters have been left guessing for the remainder of the week after Mousinho refused to elaborate on any team news rumours.
Four players who featured against QPR last time out are all doubts for the weekend: Hayden Matthews left Fratton Park in protective strapping; Rob Atkinson was withdrawn after 39 minutes; Isaac Hayden and Zak Swanson came off with knocks as a precaution.
If all are unavailable as well as Freddie Potts who remains a doubt, it could be a significantly different defence and midfield named by Mousinho.
It is nigh on impossible to predict how the head coach will go with his team selection, but be fairly assured it will remain in the 4-2-3-1 shape.
In the home camp, Bloomfield was rocked by injuries of his own in their local derby defeat to Watford last weekend, as a host of players including Teden Mengi, Tahith Chong and Daiki Hashioka missed out.
Predicted line-ups
Luton Town: Kaminski, Walters, Andersen, Bell, Jones, Walsh, Nakamba, Aasgaard, Doughty, Morris, Adebayo.
Portsmouth: Schmid, Devlin, Poole, Towler, Ogilvie, Dozzell, Pack, Ritchie, Aouchiche, Murphy, Bishop.
Score prediction: Luton Town 1-2 Portsmouth
Form is a heavy influence at the highest levels, and Portsmouth have discovered a solid run which has really sparked momentum among both the players and supporters.
Luton are stuck in a rut, without a win since before Christmas and really looking out of ideas. They will be scrapping for every ball and looking for any avenue they can get, while eyeing up Pompey’s poor away record this season as a weakness.
It won’t be easy, and the Blues could have a varying number of important players missing, but crucially the attack remains untouched from the QPR game. This is a chance to stick it to an opponent on the road again.
| Portsmouth goal contributions 2024-25 | Goals | Assists | Total | |
| 1 | Josh Murphy | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| 2 | Callum Lang | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| 3 | Colby Bishop | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 4 | Freddie Potts | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | Connor Ogilvie, Matt Ritchie | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Surely, victory at Kenilworth Road – with the tilted run of home games during the rest of March – would more or less rubber-stamp Championship football for Portsmouth next season.
That has to be the sole motivation. Be up for the battle, take advantage of Luton’s lack of confidence, and take chances when they arrive.
Portsmouth should earn the three points here, with Josh Murphy the orchestrator of a key win.