Luton Town vs Liverpool: Reds battle against unwanted record as Salah and co visit Kenilworth Road

Liverpool will be desperate to avoid a banana-skin fixture when Jurgen Klopp makes his first visit to Kenilworth Road to face Luton Town this weekend.

The Reds have enjoyed a flying start to the season with only one defeat in all competitions so far but have struggled against the newly promoted sides in recent times.

The Merseyside outfit battled to a 2-1 win over Bournemouth in midweek, with Darwin Nunez's stunner sending the club into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

Liverpool now return to Premier League action where they sit in fourth on 23 points, three adrift of table-toppers Tottenham.

Luton are languishing in the relegation zone after seven defeats and only one win from their opening ten games of the season.

However, the Hatters can take comfort from the fact that their sole top-flight victory came against Merseyside opposition in Everton.

Liverpool also curiously have a poor record against newly promoted sides having lost their last two away games against teams coming up from the Championship.

But the Reds are only behind Aston Villa and Newcastle for goals scored this term and Luton are yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet.

• This is the first meeting between Luton and Liverpool in any competition since January 2008, with the Reds winning an FA Cup third round replay 5-0 at Anfield.
• Liverpool have lost just one of their last 10 meetings with Luton in all competitions (W5 D4), going down 3-1 at Kenilworth Road in February 1991.
• Luton are unbeaten in their last four home league games against Liverpool (W2 D2), with this the first such meeting since a goalless draw in August 1991.

The hosts were not in Carabao Cup action in midweek but long-term absentees Mads Andersen and Dan Potts remain sidelined but both Reece Burke and Arsenal loanee Albert Sambi Lokonga are closing in on comebacks.

The visitors will continue to be without Luis Diaz following the situation surrounding his family in his native Colombia.

Liverpool also have several injury concerns to contend with, as Andy Robertson, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak are all out.

Yet Curtis Jones made his comeback from a domestic suspension against Bournemouth and is available here.

• Only James Ward-Prowse (16) has created more chances via set plays than Luton’s Alfie Doughty (14) this season. Doughty has also made 23 successful crosses, with only Kieran Trippier having more (31).
• Only three players have created more chances in the Premier League this season than Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai (25), who, against Nottingham Forest, became the second Hungarian to assist two goals in a Premier League game along with Zoltán Gera. It’s the most chances created by a player in his first 10 appearances in the competition since James Rodríguez for Everton in 2020 (also 25).
• Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been involved in 32 Premier League goals in 2023 (20 goals, 12 assists), with only Erling Haaland having more goal involvements (33). Indeed, the last three instances of a player both scoring 20+ goals and assisting 10+ goals in a calendar year have all been achieved by Salah (28 goals, 12 assists in 2018 and 24 goals, 11 assists in 2021).

Klopp was quick to heap praise on academy defender Jarell Quansah, who impressed in the win over Bournemouth.

He said: "That's the other thing which was obvious: that he was really good. In these circumstances, wow. So many difficult balls to judge, to estimate, where is it coming down? He did really well.

"On the ball, Caoimhin [Kelleher] thought give him the ball quite a lot and let's see what he can do.

"He did really well there. Yes, top game, absolutely."

On Nunez, Klopp added: "It's an unbelievable goal. We had much bigger chances in the whole game – like five, six, seven – but that was the goal we needed. He did it.

" Everybody was really working extremely hard and that's what you want. And now we drive home, long trip but we would have had to do that anyway. But with going to the next round, it feels much better."

• Luton are yet to keep a Premier League clean sheet in 10 games this season, the first time they’ve failed to keep a clean sheet in their opening 10 league games since 2019-20 in the Championship. In what is their first ever season in the Premier League, they are looking to avoid becoming only the second team to concede in each of their first 11 games in the competition, along with Leicester in 1994 (first 18).
• Liverpool have lost just one of their last 21 Premier League games (W14 D6), a late defeat to Spurs in September. They have, however, lost their last two away games against newly promoted sides, last having a longer such run between December 2010 and March 2012 (four in a row).
• Luton have scored six of their nine Premier League goals this season in the final 10 minutes of games, with only Arsenal (7) scoring more in that timeframe. However, only two of the last 31 Premier League goals Liverpool have conceded have been in the final 10 minutes of games.
• Only Tottenham Hotspur (178) have attempted more shots in the Premier League this season than Liverpool (176), with the Reds amassing the highest expected goals total (22.4). Their average of 17.6 shots per game is their second-highest in a Premier League season under Jürgen Klopp, behind only 2021-22 (19.2).

This Premier League clash will take place on Sunday, November 5.

Kick-off at Kenilworth Road is scheduled for 4:30pm.

The game will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, with coverage starting at 3:30pm.

Sky Sports customers can live stream this via the app using their mobile, tablet or computer devices.

You can also purchase a Sky Sports Day Pass from NowTV for £11.98.

talkSPORT will have live updates throughout the afternoon and talkSPORT.com will be running a live blog as well.

Match Odds

Luton: 11/1

Draw: 11/2

Liverpool: 1/5

*odds correct as of 16:00 02/11/23

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