3 observations made after Luton Town play out goalless draw away at West Brom

Luton Town were unable to secure a fourth successive away victory at the weekend with the Hatters drawing 0-0 at West Brom.

Nathan Jones’ side, who ended a run of five successive defeats at The Hawthorns, extended their unbeaten run to five games in the process.

The point leaves the Hatters three points and three places outside of the play-off positions, which after last season’s 6th-placed finish, the expectation levels have risen once more.

Here, is five observations made as Luton left The Hawthorns after a goalless 90 minutes…

A strong point

West Brom’s poor start to the campaign from a points tally perspective has created this narrative that they are a poor side who are playing poor football. That is far from the truth, with the Baggies dominating a lot of games they have been in thus far, something that the xG tables also back up.

Of course, it has been far from an ideal start to the new campaign for Steve Bruce, and a continuation of being unable to win football matches means he has been relieved of his duties at The Hawthorns.

The Baggies are also in their second year of a three-year package of parachute payments, which across the three years totals to over £90 million. These are the financial situations that the Hatters are having to come up against.

Ethan Horvath continues to make a strong case for World Cup inclusion

Ethan Horvath will have one eye on ensuring that he earns his spot in the USA’s World Cup squad, with the competition a month away now. The Nottingham Forest loanee kept his fifth clean sheet of the season in what was a strong display throughout the 90 minutes.

Horvath made some good saves against the Baggies when called into action, whilst his distribution and positioning were also at a good level.

Horvath has firmly cemented the number one spot since arriving at Kenilworth Road and his next objective will be doing the exact same with his nation.

5 games unbeaten

It is interesting that when breaking down the season thus far, the Hatters have performed well and picked up points against squads with the most quality. Admittedly, the defeats have come as big blows, especially the two losses on home soil, but ultimately, Luton are proving to be difficult to beat against teams with bigger budgets and pulling power.

Saturday’s point at West Brom might not be looked on too favourably, but when considering the fact they have been able to add the likes of Jed Wallace, John Swift and Okay Yokuslu again shows what the Hatters have to deal with in the Championship.

With three tough fixtures ahead for Nathan Jones and Co. Luton will bring confidence into this tricky run of games on paper.