Both aiming to get back to winning ways and improve their standings at opposite ends of the Championship table, Luton Town and West Bromwich Albion will meet in an important contest at Kenilworth Road on Friday.

preview

Luton Town head back to Kenilworth Road on Saturday aiming to bounce back from a poor start to their campaign on their return to the Championship this season.

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last time around and setting their sights on climbing back to the top flight under the management of Rob Edwards, they currently sit in the relegation zone having picked up just 11 points from their 12 outings thus far.

The Hatters headed into the October international break on the back of a three-match winless streak, and after returning in style by beating rivals Watford 3-0, they have failed to kickstart their season, most recently suffering back-to-back defeats in two tough tests last week.

Aiming to make it back-to-back wins following that derby victory, Edwards's men hosted leaders Sunderland and suffered a 2-1 defeat, before most recently visiting Coventry City on Saturday and leading 2-0 until the hour mark through Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo, only for Ellis Simms and Victor Torp to level the scores before Haji Wright snatched all three points for the hosts in injury time.

Now sitting 22nd in England's second tier, already four points outside of the top half and eight behind the playoff places, Luton Town face increasing pressure and will be desperate to bounce back to winning ways to trigger a climb at the weekend.

Their visitors will bid to end a tough run of their own at Kenilworth Road at the weekend, having suffered a slump in recent weeks after making an eye-catching start to the campaign.

Aiming to build on last season's fifth-placed finish and playoff semi-final defeat and launch another promotion bid, West Bromwich Albion went unbeaten in their first six outings and amassed 16 points to sit top, but they have since failed to add another notch to their wins column in six further attempts.

That slump began with a pair of defeats, and the Baggies have since played out four straight draws, only managing to score once along the way in a trip to Oxford after the break.

Indeed, it is in defence where Carlos Corberan's side have excelled thus far, with their consecutive goalless stalemates with Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City last week making it seven clean sheets for the campaign, while only Burnley and Sheffield United have conceded fewer than the seven goals they have shipped.

Now sitting fifth as a result of their dip, West Bromwich Albion will be keen to build on that strong defensive record with some attacking improvement, beginning with the weekend's trip to Luton.

Luton Town possible starting lineup:

Kaminski; Hashioka, McGuinness, Johnson; Moses, Clark, Krauss, Nakamba; Chong; Morris, Adebayo

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:

Palmer; Furlong, Ajayi, Holgate, Heggem; Mowatt, Racic; Grant, Swift, Fellows; Maja