Luton vs Stoke City Predictions

• At least three goals have been scored in five of Luton’s last seven Championship contests.
• At least three goals have been scored in four of Stoke’s last six away league games, including the last three.
• Luton have conceded exactly one goal in four of their last seven home games.

Hatters could have trouble against streaky Stoke

Stoke could probe awkward opponents this weekend for a Luton side now gearing up for a run at promotion under Rob Edwards.

The Hatters lifted themselves into fourth place on Tuesday with a 1-0 home win over Cardiff and leapfrogged rivals Watford – who jettisoned Edwards earlier this season. The manager has turned Luton into a team to be feared this year, although their recent run of fixtures has been quite kind.

Stoke are the sort of team punters love to swerve because they are so hard to read. They thrashed Reading at home a fortnight ago to halt a run of three straight defeats in the Championship and then struggled to put away League Two Stevenage in the cup last weekend.

Potters must replace Souttar to survive

The Potters sold solid centre-back Harry Souttar on this week and will need to fill that hole quickly if they are not to drop closer to the relegation zone. That could be a partial reason to take on the goal markets instead of trying to pick a winner of this thorny clash.

Over 2.5 goals have been scored in Stoke’s last three away league games and five of Luton’s last seven all told. Alex Neil’s men have scored seven goals in their last two outings, so there is no reason to suspect they won’t notch at least once at Kenilworth Road – where Luton have rattled in 17 goals in their last 10.

A 2-1 Hatters win gets our vote because the hosts are trending upwards under Edwards and Stoke remain a hit-and-miss outfit.