Damian
Upsets happen. Today, we can’t allow today to be an upset and we must beat the side that have only picked up five points this season. And I’ve written the number because it’s not big and it means Luton are in the bottom three.
But it’s all about numbers and if Luton win, they move up two places and out of the relegation zone and in football, anything can happen. Just because we sit in fifth place and just because if we win today we could move into third place, it doesn’t mean we should take this match lightly.
But it is a match we can be optimistic about. Not because it’s Luton but because we’ve had 11 successive league wins at Villa Park and we have a manager that is getting the best out of the players and the players are playing with confidence and belief.
And if we win today, we do put ourselves in a much better position. So we should be positive, maybe optimistic but should definitely not expect three points. Me, I’m going to get to the shops as I quite fancy a chicken in the oven this afternoon. But I’ll be back in plenty of time.
Match facts from the BBC
Head-to-head
- This is the first meeting since Luton beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the League Cup first round in August 2016.
- The last time they met at Villa Park was in a League Cup second-round tie in October 2002, when Dion Dublin scored twice in a 3-0 home win.
- This will be the first league encounter since April 1992, when the Hatters won 2-0 in their penultimate game of their most recent season in the top flight.
- Luton have lost six of their last seven away games versus Villa in all competitions.
Aston Villa
- Aston Villa have earned 11 successive home league wins for the first time since a run of 13 in 1983. They have scored 31 goals and conceded just five in those victories.
- They have been victorious in 19 Premier League games in 2023 – the only calendar years in which they have fared better are 1998 and 1993, with 21 and 20 wins respectively.
- They are aiming to win more than six of their opening 10 matches in a top-flight season for the first time since claiming seven victories in 1951-52.
- Their tally of 19 points is their highest after nine games of a Premier League campaign for 25 years.
- The Villans have won 68 points since Unai Emery’s first Premier League fixture in charge – only Manchester City (78), Arsenal (74) and Liverpool (71) have more in that time.
- They have scored three goals or more in each of their opening four home league matches of a season for the first time since 1920.
- Villa have netted 17 times in those four home matches, a figure bettered only by Manchester City in Premier League history (City scored 18 in their first four fixtures at the Etihad in 2017-18 and 20 last season).
Luton Town
- A draw would see them equal the total of five away points they managed across the whole of their last season in the top flight in 1991-92.
- The Hatters have only led for a total of 66 minutes in the league this season, all of which came in their win at Everton.
- They are the first Premier League debutant to fail to keep a clean sheet in their opening nine matches in the competition since Bolton in 1995.
- Six of their eight league goals this season have been scored in the second half, with five of those coming in the final 10 minutes of matches.
- Manager Rob Edwards made 10 Premier League appearances as a player with the first eight coming for Aston Villa in 2002-03. The other two were for Blackpool in 2010-11, which included a 3-2 defeat at Villa Park.
