Luton vs West Ham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-08-31 19:00.
It’ll be a night to remember in Bedfordshire as Premier League (PL) football finally arrives at Kenilworth Road after Luton Town completed the necessary upgrades so their stadium can host top-flight action. They’ll hope home comforts can help them end their winless start (L2), but even after losing 3-0 to Chelsea, manager Rob Edwards found plenty of positives, saying he was “really proud” of his players.
Home form could well be key to the Hatters’ survival bid this term, so they’ll be keen to extend an eight-game unbeaten run here in all competitions (W7, D2). They now take on West Ham United, a team against whom they’ve lost just one of the last 11 H2Hs here (W6, D4), albeit without playing against each other since 1994.
But that might inspire West Ham to pick up where they left off on Saturday, when they beat Brighton away from home for the first time since 2011, with their 3-1 success briefly putting them top of the table. Doing so despite having just 22% possession and completing just 31 first half passes showed their clinical side, with manager David Moyes maintaining it was a “well deserved three points”.
A good start (W2, D1) may have Hammers fans dreaming of at least a top-half finish following last term’s disappointing 14th place, particularly if they can emulate their 2021/22 season, in which they lost none of their first five league away fixtures (W4, D1). They’ve started strongly in that regard (W1, D1) and the recent signing of Mohammed Kudus for £38 million from Ajax should stand them in good stead to continue.
Players to watch: Scorer of Luton’s only league goal this term, Carlton Morris netted 11 Championship goals here last season, the last two of which came between the 65th and 75th minute. Meanwhile, Michail Antonio has netted the third goal of both of West Ham’s last two fixtures.
Hot stat: West Ham have won three of their last four PL away games against newly-promoted clubs (L1).