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Stoke City vs. Luton Town: Preview & Prediction

By Jeff Brantley

STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 08: James Bree of Luton runs past William Smallbone of Stoke City during the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Luton Town at Bet365 Stadium on November 08, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
STOKE ON TRENT, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 08: James Bree of Luton runs past William Smallbone of Stoke City during the Sky Bet Championship between Stoke City and Luton Town at Bet365 Stadium on November 08, 2022 in Stoke on Trent, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) /
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Momentum can be a crucial part of any team’s season. Whether it be a losing streak or a winning streak, either way momentum can affect how a team plays in their upcoming matches. Fortunately for Stoke City though, at the moment, they’re on a winning streak and have good momentum heading into Saturday’s game against Luton Town.

With Stoke City’s two match winning streak (one win in the Championship and a FA Cup win last Sunday), The Potters have no excuses to come out and play well on the road Saturday. And on top of having no excuses, the club also has no room for error at this point of the season.

Stoke City currently sit at 18th on the table with 33 points — While The Potters win two weeks ago against Reading gave the team a little breathing room on the table, it still hasn’t given Stoke City a ton of room to drop points moving forward.

As for The Potters’ opponents this weekend, Luton Town come into Saturday’s match in playoff position at 4th on the table with 45 points.

Stoke City against Luton Town in their last five meetings have won four matches and lost just one time — Those wins for The Potters include a 2-0 win late last year in November against the Hatters.

Stoke City vs. Luton Town Prediction:

Stoke City have won two matches in a row, have added five players in the January transfer window (although they did also lose seven players), and beat Luton Town late last year while also playing to a clean sheet. So what could go wrong on Saturday right?

Of course as Stoke City fans know from how The Potter’s season has gone so far, everything can still go wrong for Stoke City on Saturday. But Alex Neil will be hoping the team’s recent form and new additions play a big part in helping steady the ship in the second half of the season.

One of those big additions that will go a long way moving forward is Dijon loanee and midfielder, Bersant Celina — Celina who made his debut last Sunday in the FA Cup, made an immediate impact for Stoke City by helping to unlock the club’s attack.

And Neil/Stoke City will need that attacking spark once again this Saturday. Luton Town walk into Saturday’s match at 4th best in the league in goals against at 29 and 5th best in the league in terms of xGA (expected goals against) with a number of .27.6.

So even though Stoke City scored two goals earlier this season against the Hatters, goals on Saturday for Stoke City might be hard to come by. The good news for Stoke City though is that Luton Town aren’t necessarily an attacking juggernaut.

Luton Town so far this season have only scored three more goals than Stoke City (36 to 33). And in fact, in terms of xG (expected goals), Stoke City have a higher number than Luton Town (32.7 to 31.7).

Now, that’s not a huge difference, but what it does equal is a situation where if Stoke City can play well, they can grab at least a point out of Saturday’s match The key word being here “play well”.

If Stoke City can play well on Saturday, they should at least grab shares of the spoils. And if Stoke City can play even a little above that level, the team might be able to sneak away with all three points on the road.

Prediction: Stoke City draw a point with a 1-1 result.