Luton Town vs Blackburn Rovers preview: How to watch, kick-off time, team news, predicted lineups and ones to watch

Despite scoring 12 goals less, Luton Town sit two places above Blackburn Rovers ahead of Saturday's game.

The Hatters will be relatively pleased with how they have started the season, accumulating 17 points from their first 11 games.

Blackburn Rovers, however, will be a little disappointed with their start to the season. Despite scoring 21 goals in 11 games, Rovers remain five points outside the play-offs.

Team news

The international break came at a good time, who were struggling in the full-back department. The much-needed rest has benefitted both James Bree and Dan Potts, who will both be available for Nathan Jones come Saturday.

New signing Gabriel Osho however, is unlikely to go straight into Luton's match-day squad.

Blackburn Rovers have been boosted by the return of playmaker Bradley Dack. The 26-year-old had been sidelined for 11 months but appeared in an Under 23's match against Sheffield United during the week, and could feature against the Hatters.

Stewart Downing is also expected to make the match-day squad since re-signing for the club just before the international break.

Predicted lineups

Luton Town:

Sluga; Bree, Lockyer, Pearson, Bradley, Norrington- Davies; Morrell, Ruddock, Berry; Cornick, Collins

Blackburn Rovers:

Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Wharton, Rankin-Costello; Johnson, Rothwell, Dack; Elliott, Armstrong, Brereton.

Ones to watch

For The Hatters, Harry Cornick is a player who will certainly cause problems down the right flank. The 25-year-old is incredibly quick and can turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye.

He is an excellent outlet for the Town, who will use their central midfielders to float the ball into channels for Cornick to chase and cause havoc.

Luton will need to be wary of the league's top goal-scorer Adam Armstrong. The 23-year-old has found the back of the net 11 times already this season and will be looking to add to his tally at Kenilworth Road once more.

The forward is an impossible player to mark as he is constantly moving and will definitely give those Luton defenders a tough 90 minutes.

Previous meetings

This fixture proved to be pivotal for the Hatters last year, with a 3-2 victory confirming survival. Blackburn opened the scoring in the first half, but two own goals and a James Collins penalty raced Luton into a 3-1 lead before Sam Gallagher ensured a nervy few minutes with a late goal.

The reverse fixture also ended in a Luton win. Matty Pearson and James Collins both nodded home either side of a brilliant Lewis Travis strike, to earn a 2-1 victory.

Manager's thoughts

Luton Town manager Nathan Jones believes his squad in a great position and that the squad is fully fit and how new signing Gabriel Osho will be integrated into the squad:

“He’s got a decent pedigree, comes from Reading, we knew that he was getting offered a deal at Reading, but he didn't see a pathway there," he said.

“So we just saw an opportunity to bring in a young, athletic, hungry player, it had to be the right decision for us, because obviously where he plays, centre half, right back, we are covered in that area as it is, so we didn't want to curtail anyone.

“As soon as we saw that we had an opportunity to loan Peter Kioso out and further his development, we then were able to fill the void by bringing Gabi in.”

Ahead of Saturday's game, Rovers boss Tony Mowbray was full of praise towards his opposite number in his pre-match press conference:

“Nathan’s done a remarkable job in keeping them up when it looked as if they were doomed at one stage," he said.

“Nathan’s a good coach and that gave him the opportunity at Stoke, but for whatever reason, and I’ve been there myself, things just don't work out for managers at certain clubs.

"I like Nathan. He’s very passionate, he’s emotional on the touchline, he’s vocal about his team.

“Luton’s a club with big history though and I’m not someone who gets fooled by the ‘little Luton’ tag."