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Luton Town travel up to *checks weather* rainy Blackpool tomorrow, where the Hatters are hoping to put a stop to their knack of sharing the spoils. The Hatters have become somewhat draw specialists this season with 8 games ending with the points being shared. Standing in their way is a Blackpool team that since the beginning of October have found their scoring boots, most notably Jerry Yates who has bagged a brace in 3 of his last 6 games. Luton Town currently sit in 10th place with 26 points, whereas Blackpool sit 16th with 22 points. Some exciting news out of Blackpool is that they have today submitted plans to build a new East Stand at Bloomfield Road, this would replace the temporary structure that has stood since their brief stint in the Premier League. If you are making the trip up to Blackpool, I recommend checking out Blackpool Pleasure Beach, seeing the Blackpool Tower and taking a stroll along the North Pier. If you have lots of time to spare, they also have a zoo and an aquarium, where you can check out lots of cool aquatic life.
Underlying Statistics
Interestingly, Blackpool do not seem to have a preference for whether they play home or away, having accumulated 1.25 points per game at Bloomfield Road (8 games played W3 D1 L4), and 1.2 points per game on their travels (10 games played W3 D3 L4). They haven’t scored a free kick or benefitted from an own goal so far this season, with 19 of their 23 goals coming from open play, and the remaining 4 coming from clever set piece plays.
Blackpool have quite a gung ho mentality whereby they are great at scoring goals, averaging 1.3 goals per match, which is the joint 8th best in the division, however, they will often try and outscore the opposition, as they have average 1.5 goals conceded per match, the 22nd worst record in the division. This has seen them pick up only 4 clean sheets, compared to our 7. Just like Luton Town, Blackpool are very adept at creating clear goalscoring opportunities, with both teams creating 24 so far this season. However, Blackpool are more wasteful than Luton Town having missed 17 of these clear scoring opportunities, compared to 13 big misses for Luton Town. Furthermore, the Blackpool players are very naughty boys, leading the Championship with 4 red cards being dished out so far.
Players to watch out for There’s been a lot of talk about Jerry Yates being linked to Premier League clubs. My opinion is that he has just hit a great run of form. Having scored 40 goals over his 114 appearances (1 goal in every 3.5 games) for Blackpool, the former Rotherham man, since his game changing brace against Watford, has caught fire, as mentioned above 3 braces in 6 games, and 9 goals in 18 appearances this season (1 goal in every 2 games). Theo Corbeanu impressed me last season in the playoff semi final, where he was playing for MK. The Canadian is on loan from Wolves, and will be a handful for whoever ends up playing wing back for us, as he is a very direct, tricky and powerful runner. In his 15 matches so far, he has 3 goals and 1 assist.
I have to mention Charlie Patino, not just because he was poached from us by Arsenal, aged 12 for a measly £10,000, but also because he has turned in some excellent performances in the centre of the park. Patino does everything driving runs from deep with the ball, creating chances and makes plenty of interceptions. I see missing out on loaning Patino, a big error on Luton’s behalf, as he drawing plenty of adulation from mainstream media and Blackpool fans.
Prediction If the weather forecast in correct, it will be a wet and windy day, not at all conducive for a football match. Blackpool can be leaky at the back, but devastating going forward, whereas Luton have been relatively goal shy in their last 3 matches, only scoring once. I’m an optimist though, and I believe Luton will score. I think we will share the points once again, but it will be thrilling, just like our playoff ding dongs, 2 – 2.
Head to head record (previous 8 matches)
Luton Town 3 wins – 4 draws – Blackpool 1 win
Date Results Competition
Dec 17th 2016 Blackpool 0 – 2 Luton Town League 2
April 1st 2017 Luton Town 1 – 0 Blackpool League 2
May 14th 2017 Blackpool 3 – 2 Luton Town League 2 Playoff
May 18th 2017 Luton Town 3 – 3 Blackpool League 2 Playoff
Sep 22nd 2018 Blackpool 0 – 0 Luton Town League 1
April 6th 2019 Luton Town 2 – 2 Blackpool League 1
Dec 4th 2021 Blackpool 0 – 3 Luton Town Championship
April 23rd 2022 Luton Town 1 – 1 Blackpool Championship
Injury news Who knows what the backline will be for Luton Town, with Gabe Osho serving the last match of his suspension, Sonny Bradley most likely not being thrown straight back in after such a lucky near miss, Reece Burke injured with no news, and likely no return before the winter break, and Tom Lockyer, who fortunately avoided a concussion when he was withdrawn against Reading. Henri Lansbury is hopefully fit for the game, but the re-emergence of Pelly-Ruddock, will probably result in Lansbury having a well deserved rest.
Blackpool are experiencing their own injury crisis, with new signing Liam Bridcutt already out with a groin injury. Keshi Anderson who caused us problems last season is out with an MCL (not as severe as an ACL, but still unpleasant). Their Man City loanee, midfielder Lewis Fiorini is likely to miss out due to a hamstring injury.