Two sides desperately searching for three points meet in the English Football League this weekend as Preston North End lock horns with Luton Town.
- Date: 08/24/2024
- Kick-off time: 10:00 AM ET
- Location: Deepdale, Preston
Preston North End currently sit 23rd in the Championship with 0 points. It was largely expected that Preston would struggle this season after a squad already short on quality lost two of its key players in the summer without adequate replacements coming in, and their start to the season has been exactly in line with those projections.
It’s been a pretty tumultuous start to the campaign for Preston who were the subject of one of the earliest managerial departures in recent memory, as Ryan Lowe departed the club after the first game of the season. Preston fans have a love-hate relationship with Lowe, who despite constantly having the team punching above its weight on a very slim budget, could not seem to brush off the doubters, most of whom took umbrage at his style of play, deemed by most to be very negative.
Lowe would of course point to the resources at his disposal, which are very slim, and the fact he guided the team to a 10th place finish last season. It’s easy to sympathize with Lowe, but a parting of ways was probably for the best on his part.
North End now have to conduct a thorough manager search to find someone capable of making a squad with little quality perform beyond its means. That’s no easy feat, and even less so once the season has started. Preston really need three points here, but it’s difficult to have a tonne of faith in them at present.
Luton Town currently sit 20th in the Championship with one point from their first two games. To say it’s not been the start to the season that Luton fans expected would be a gross understatement. The Hatters were, and still are, expected to make a real push for promotion coming into this season after being relegated from the Premier League last season, but they’ve so far looked well short of that standard.
Under Rob Edwards, Luton gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in the 2022-23 season, and with the manager still at the helm and many of the players responsible for gaining that promotion still at the club, Luton seemed primed to make another run at promotion glory. However, things haven’t quite clicked for Luton yet and while it’s still far too early to panic, there’ll be some serious concern among the fan base.
Luton haven’t done much business in this transfer window and are still very light in the midfield area, so that’s something that Edwards and co will desperately want to address before the window is up. Still, though, there’s enough quality in this team to be a top six side as it is, so there needs to be a lot of improvement in-house as much as anything.
The Hatters have had a pretty tricky start fixture-wise, so they’ll be pleased to be facing Preston, a side who they’ll very much expect to beat.
Recent head-to-head meetings between these two sides have been dead even, with both sides winning twice while the other ended a draw. The most recent meeting between the two, back in 2023, ended 1-1.
Championship 
