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Full Record of Spurs -v- Luton

Premier         Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home             0   0   0   0     0-0    0
Away             0   0   0   0     0-0    0
============================================
Total (Prem)     0   0   0   0     0-0    0
============================================
Lge Div 1 
Home            16  11   4   1    35-16  32
Away            16   4   8   4    19-18  18
============================================
Total (Div 1)   32  15  12   5    54-34  50
============================================
Lge Div 2
Home             7   4   1   2     9-4    9
Away             7   2   4   1    12-8    8
============================================
Total (Div 2)   14   6   5   3    21-12  17
============================================
Total (Prem)     0   0   0   0     0-0    0
Total (Div 1)   32  15  12   5    54-34  50
Total (Div 2)   14   6   5   3    21-12  17
============================================
Grand Total     46  21  17   8    75-46  67   1.456 Pts per game
============================================

Last Six Premier League results:-

Luton       -     LLLDWL

Chelsea    3-0    Luton
Luton      1-2    West Ham
Fulham     1-0    Luton
Luton      1-1    Wolves
Everton    1-2    Luton
Luton      1-2    Burnley

Spurs       -     WWWWDW
           
Spurs      2-0    Man Utd
B'mouth    0-2    Spurs
Burnley    2-5    Spurs
Spurs      2-1    Sheff Utd
Arsenal    2-2    Spurs
Spurs      2-1    Liverpool

Pos        P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
 2. Spurs  7  5  2  0  17-8    9   17
17. Luton  7  1  1  5   6-14  -8    4

Spurs can go top of the league!

"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It's nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out to beat the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." - Danny Blanchflower

Spurs travel to Kenilworth Road for league action for the first time since March 1992 and the two teams kick off this weekend's Premier League action. Spurs are on top of the world after last week's victory over Liverpool, despite the furore over the VAR fiasco which deprived Liverpool of a legitimate goal. A win over Luton would put us on top of the table, and if Manchester City fail to beat Arsenal on Sunday, we would be top of the league for two weeks!

Luton's fairy-tale return to the top flight has been well-documented. They have become the 51st team to grace the Premier League, although, as a Division One club, they did have a vote when the establishment of the Premier League was agreed by top flight clubs in 1992. Luton were relegated with 42 points in a 42-game season along with Notts County and bottom side West Ham. 31 years is a long time and Luton spent 5 of those years playing in the fifth tier conference.

It is interesting to note that Notts County have only this year regained football league status after also tasting conference football and that Oldham, who were founder members of the Premier League are currently in the National League for a second season. Spurs' ever-present Premier League status is something to be cherished. They are one of only five such clubs.

Luton Town's opening home match of the Premier League season had to be postponed because of the extensive work that was required on their Kenilworth Road stadium. They were also granted an exemption by the Premier League and were allowed to begin the season without installing undersoil heating.

Luton had to make drastic changes to their 10,000-seater ground in order to host Premier League football. These upgrades included the construction of a new stand to meet broadcast and media requirements. They played their postponed home game against Burnley and lost 2-1 at home on Tuesday.

Luton's promotion came as a result of a Play-off final win (on penalties against Coventry) in which captain Tom Lockyer collapsed only minutes into the game in a non-contact situation and was admitted to hospital. He was subsequently released on the Thursday after the play-off win. Lockyer scored Luton's first goal in their recent win at Goodison Park.

Some 20,000 people crowded the streets of Luton on Bank holiday Monday 29th May to celebrate "The Hatters"' promotion.

I have fond memories of an uncle who lived in Luton in the 1960s. He followed his local team and we had many conversations about the relative fortunes of our teams. Luton suffered a mighty decline in those days. In 1959, they had been a top flight club which lost an FA Cup Final 2-1 to Nottingham Forest. Roy Dwight (Elton John's cousin) scored Forest's opening goal.

In only 6 years, Luton fell from the top to the fourth division, working their way back to the top flight in 1982 with future Spurs manager David Pleat at the helm. Pleat dressed in a light brown suit, famously danced onto the Maine Road pitch at the end of the 82/83 season after substitute Raddy Antic scored the goal that kept Luton up and sent City down. Pleat managed Luton in two spells, firstly between 1978 and 1986 (when he became Tottenham's manager) and secondly between June 1991 and 1995.

Our biggest away win at Kenilworth Road was 4-1 in 1978 4-1. This was our promotion year. Glenn Hoddle scored twice with goals added by Don McAllister and John Duncan. Luton's goalkeeper was Milija Aleksic who joined us later the same year and was subsequently one of our 1981 FA Cup winning heroes. Milija sadly passed away in 2012.

In 1988, Luton reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to eventual winners Wimbledon at White Hart Lane. They did win their only major trophy in the same season, beating Arsenal 3-2 in the League Cup Final in front of over 95,000 at Wembley.

Our last competitive meeting was at Kenilworth Road in March 1992 which ended in a 0-0 draw. This was the same result as our two previous visits. A Spurs XI played a friendly at Luton in August 2003 when our current goalkeeping coach Rob Burch was in the Spurs goal and our own Shwan Jalal guested in the Luton goal. Jalal subsequently had a long professional career with clubs including Bournemouth and Chesterfield. He was in the Bournemouth goal for the last Chesterfield game played at their Saltergate Stadium in 2010. (I was there too!)

Luton's manager is Rob Edwards, formerly of Forest Green and Watford. The club made 10 summer signings. The best known names are former Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley (free from Nice), goalkeeper Tim Krul (once of Newcastle, free from Norwich), and midfielder Tahith Chong who was once a Manchester United junior. Former Aston Villa midfielder Marvelous Nakamba was on loan last season but signed full terms and has been ever-present this season.

Three of Luton's six league goals this season have been scored by last season's top scorer Carlton Morris, two of which have been from the penalty spot. Luton are a gutsy side and we will be playing in front of a vociferous home crowd in a very compact environment. Luton's recent defeats have been by narrow margins.

Last week Ange Postecoglou became only the second head coach to see his team score at least twice in his first seven Premier League games; Craig Shakespeare, with Leicester City in 2017, was the first.

The club finally confirmed that Manor Solomon suffered a meniscus injury to his right knee in training this week, and had surgery yesterday (Thursday). He is likely to be out for two months. Brennan Johnson will not be fit until after the International break and "Sonny" has been playing with a groin strain necessitating careful monitoring regarding playing time. Bryan Gil may be fit enough for the bench. I imagine our starting line-up will be the same as last week. I'm backing Spurs to get the win that would take us to the top of the table. I can't remember when that last happened after eight games. If we get a good start, it could be 3-0.

Did you know? - Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu is the first player to climb from the fifth tier to the Premier League with the same club. He has appeared in each of Luton's seven Premier League matches this season, starting three of those games. Mpanzu was on West Ham's books when signed by Luton in the 2013/14 season and has now made a total of 33 league appearances for the club.

Our match referee will be John Brooks, for only the fourth time. We lost both games when he officiated last season. (Home to Aston Villa and away to Sheffield United in the FA Cup) Significantly, for this televised game (12.30pm Saturday TNT SPORTS), Michael Oliver is VAR. Mr. Oliver was one of the only non-culpable officials in last week's Liverpool game as he was the fourth official. He is scheduled to be in the middle for Sunday's Arsenal-Manchester City game.

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