Who will start for Luton Town against West Ham?

Date: Friday 1st September 2023

Kick-off: 8pm (BST)

Venue: Kenilworth Road

The revamped Bobbers Stand ahead of Friday Night Football

Luton are set to take on West Ham United in their first Premier League game at Kenilworth Road. The Hatters are without a win so far, although they have played two difficult away games against Brighton and Chelsea. Meanwhile, the Irons have started very well, drawing to Bournemouth, and beating the two teams Luton lost to, comfortably. Friday's ferocious home atmosphere should ensure the game is close and intense, and West Ham's style of football is more suited for Luton to play against.

Team News and Oak Road Hatters Predicted XI:

Clark, Potts, Osho still injured.

Despite the loss to Chelsea, the same team is likely to start at home to West Ham.

For goalkeeper, Kaminski will still be number one. Even though he has conceded seven goals in the two games so far, none were his fault, and he has made some solid saves. His competition, Tim Krul, did not have a particularly good debut, and while we can't judge a keeper off of one game, Kaminski's spot should be safe for now.

The back three will likely be Burke, Lockyer, Bell. There are rumours Luton want to bring a centre back in, who you'd imagine would start ahead of Bell, but no signings have been made yet, and any signings wouldn't be registered in time for the game. For the wing backs, Kabore should start again, while on the other side, Giles and Doughty will fight it out for a spot. Giles has not been great defensively so far, and Doughty has impressed off the bench, and also scored in mid week. Giles will probably get the nod again due to his set pieces, delivery and attacking threat, which is marginally better than Doughty, but there is a real possibility that Doughty reclaims his spot at some stage.

The midfield trio of Barkley, Nakamba, Chong, didn't work too well against Chelsea, but at home to West Ham they should have more time on the ball. It's worth noting both of these teams prefer to play without the ball, as they have very low possession stats from their opening games. West Ham had 22% against Brighton, 24% against Chelsea, and 37% against Bournemouth. The Hatters had 33% against Chelsea, and 29% against Brighton. With Luton being at home, you would bet on us to have more of the ball than in our past two games.

Up front is the other selection battle. Morris is definitely going to play, but Adebayo and Brown will compete for the second spot. Brown has looked lively off the bench, and also scored midweek, but Elijah was arguably our best player against Chelsea, so he should be starting again, with Brown coming off the bench around the 70th minute mark.

Starting XI: Kaminski, Giles, Bell, Lockyer, Burke, Kabore, Nakamba, Chong, Barkley, Morris, Adebayo.

Prediction: Luton Town 1-1 West Ham United

West Ham are in fine form, but it would be typical of them to dismantle Brighton and Chelsea, but struggle more against us. Their attacking threat should not be underestimated, Bowen and Antonio can do real damage to our defence. However, a first Premier League home game will create a noisy and intense atmosphere which will give the team a boost, and we should see much more of the ball. A tightly fought draw.

By Samuel Roy