Preston vs. Luton: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Both of these sides have had poor starts to the season, but one has been markedly worse than the other. Preston have created an average of just 0.76xG per game (the second lowest in the division) while conceding an average of 1.69xG per game, the 8th-worst total in the league.

Preston winger Mads Frøkjær-Jensen has committed 6 fouls in 2 games, receiving one booking, so he looks a good candidate for a card here, while Luton's Elijah Adebayo has registered 5 shots (the most in the squad) accumulating a total of 0.8xG, and could be primed to break his goal drought.

Preston are both managerless and are in a state of disarray, so while Luton haven't been too convincing thus far they still have a tonne of quality at this level and are facing a team well out of sorts. Preston 0-2 Luton.

Two sides desperately in search of three points meet in Lancashire this weekend as Preston North End lock horns with Luton Town.

• Date: 24/08/2024
• Kick-off time: 15:00
• Location: Deepdale, Preston

Preston North End currently sit 23rd in the Championship with 0 points. It was largely expected that Preston would struggle this season after a squad already short on quality lost two of its key players in the summer without adequate replacements coming in, and their start to the season has been exactly in line with those projections.

It’s been a pretty tumultuous start to the campaign for Preston who were the subject of one of the earliest managerial departures in recent memory, as Ryan Lowe departed the club after the first game of the season. Preston fans have a love-hate relationship with Lowe, who despite constantly having the team punching above its weight on a very slim budget could not seem to brush off the doubters, most of whom took umbrage at his style of play, deemed by most to be very negative.

Lowe would of course point to the resources at his disposal, which are very slim, and the fact he guided the team to a 10th place finish last season. It’s easy to sympathise with Lowe, but a parting of ways was probably for the best on his part.

North End now have to conduct a thorough manager search to find someone capable of making a squad with little quality perform beyond its means. That’s no easy feat, and even less so once the season has started. Preston really need three points here but it’s hard to have a tonne of faith in them at present.

Luton Town currently sit 20th in the Championship with one point from their first two games. To say it’s not been the start to the season that Luton fans expected would be a gross understatement. The Hatters were, and still are, expected to make a real push for promotion coming into this season after being relegated from the Premier League last season, but they’ve so far looked well short of that standard.

Under Rob Edwards, Luton gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in the 2022-23 season, and with the manager still at the helm and many of the players responsible for gaining that promotion still at the club, Luton seemed primed to make another run at promotion glory. However, things haven’t quite clicked for Luton yet and while it’s still far too early to panic, there’ll be some serious concern amongst the fanbase.

Luton haven’t done much business in this transfer window and are still very light in the midfield area, so that’s something that Edwards and co will desperately want to address before the window is up. Still, though, there’s enough quality in this team to be a top six side as it is, so there needs to be a lot of improvement in-house as much as anything.

The Hatters have had a pretty tricky start fixture-wise so they’ll be pleased to be facing Preston, a side who they’ll very much expect to beat.

Recent head-to-head meetings between these two sides have been dead even, with both sides winning twice while the other ended a draw. The most recent meeting between the two, back in 2023, ended 1-1.

This game will not be televised live to U.K audiences, but partial radio coverage will be provided by BBC Three Counties Sport.

Preston Team News:

Preston are likely to make changes to their lineup following a poor performance at the weekend. One of Will Keane or Milutin Osmajić could come in up top, while Sam Greenwood could be handed a start in midfield.

Ali McCann is a major doubt after not featuring in either of the opening two games of the season.

Predicted lineup: Woodman; Potts, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Þórðarson, Whiteman, Greenwood; Frøkjær-Jensen, Keane, Brady.

Luton Team News:

The Hatters will be without goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski who will serve a one-match suspension for his red card at the weekend, meaning James Shea will start between the sticks.

Mads Andersen, Reece Burke, Jacob Brown and Daiki Hashioka are all expected to miss out through injury once again.

Predicted lineup: Shea; Walters, Mengi, Bell; Ogbene, Clark, Baptiste, Doughty; Morris, Chong; Adebayo.

Preston’s season started with a 0-2 defeat to Sheffield United. It was a game few expected Preston to take anything from, but there was a fairly alarming lack of threat from Preston who looked totally impotent.

The team did at least register a win in the EFL Cup just days later as they sealed a 2-0 win over Sunderland thanks to goals from Ryan Ledson and Mads Frøkjær-Jensen, but it was a much-changed Sunderland team containing virtually no first-choice players, so anything less than a win would've been borderline embarrassing.

At the weekend, Preston resumed their Championship schedule and were subjected to a heavy battering as they fell to a 3-0 loss away at Swansea City. It was a totally one-sided game where PNE managed only 39% of the ball and five shots on goal, highlighting what a dire predicament the team's currently in.

Including the back end of last season, Preston have now lost seven Championship games in a row without scoring a single goal, with the team’s trajectory looking increasingly negative.

Luton’s first game of the season saw them take on Burnley at Kenilworth Road, a game many thought would be a hyper-competitive encounter. The game, though, was anything but, with Luton firmly beaten 1-4 by their ostensible promotion rivals in a game where they were bested in all areas of the pitch.

What was worrying from Luton’s point of view was that their defence was getting so easily pulled apart from simple moves by Burnley, who were exploiting Luton’s high line with basic third-man runs in behind from midfield.

Luton then took the trip to the South Coast to take on newly promoted Portsmouth. These games are rarely easy early in the season, and Luton made life much more difficult for themselves as goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was sent off after just half an hour for a second bookable offence. The Belgian’s dismissal was especially frustrating because his first booking came as a consequence of time wasting, an extremely avoidable outcome.

Luton went on to draw the game 0-0 which wasn’t the worst result given the circumstances, but a serious improvement is needed soon.

• Latest match predictions
• Football tips
• Football accumulator tips
• Football bet of the day