Luton vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-07-29 14:00.
A dream run that nearly made Luton Town the first-ever team to rise from non-league football into the Premier League is still fresh as Nathan Jones' men look to go again and continue a six-season trend of improving on their previous campaign’s league finish. That they finished sixth last season despite injury absences was an achievement in itself, and celebrating it with a season-opening league win here, achieved in ten of their last 14 English Football League season openers (D2, L2), could be the perfect way for Luton to show that 2021/22’s sixth place finish was no fluke.
They now start a new chapter after a season that Jones described as "possibly the greatest story in football”. The Hatters may also be gunning for revenge after losing both their Championship matches last season against Birmingham City by an aggregate 8-0 scoreline, with only Blackburn suffering a poorer ignominy in H2H matchups last term (9-0 vs Fulham).
That H2H double was one of the few highs for Birmingham last season as they eventually finished 20th after amassing the third-lowest number of wins (11). Ahead of this campaign, the off-field uncertainty around potential investment and new boss John Eustace's prior English league experience of just seven matches (W2, D1, L4) as a caretaker manager at Queens Park Rangers back in 2019, casts something of a dark cloud over the visitors, and they’ll travel here as early relegation favourites.
A chance to post consecutive away H2H league wins for the first time since 1979 after a 5-0 win here last season may be incentive enough to find a way past that gloom though, aided by a three-season trend of starting the league season with 1-0 wins.
Players to watch: Elijah Adebayo has two goals and one assist across his last four league season openers including netting Luton’s first Championship goal last campaign. Troy Deeney played with Eustace in 2010, and a goal from him could be a positive omen for Birmingham, as two of his last three away league goals have come in wins for his team of the day.
Hot stat: Birmingham were the only Championship side not to win when conceding first last season (D3, L18).