Coventry City will be looking to stretch their unbeaten run in the Championship to six matches when they play host to Luton Town on Tuesday evening.
The Sky Blues marched to a 3-1 victory over Rotherham at the weekend, whereas Luton were dominated by Swansea City as they lost 2-0 to the promotion chasers.
Match preview
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Mark Robins was quick to insist that his side have not "cracked" the Championship code after their victory over Rotherham, but a solid set of results over the past few weeks is certainly cause for optimism in the Coventry camp.
The Sky Blues came out on top in the battle between the two newly-promoted sides as they produced a dominant performance against Rotherham, with Maxime Biamou, Tyler Walker and Leo Ostigard all finding the back of the net on Saturday.
Even though Coventry are still languishing in 19th place after 16 games, Robins's men are one of only three sides in the division not to have lost any of their last five games, with Brentford and Blackburn Rovers the other two teams to boast such a solid run in the English second tier.
Should Coventry pick up all three points against Luton and Queens Park Rangers fail to get the better of Millwall on Tuesday, the Sky Blues will temporarily rise three places into 16th before Barnsley and Birmingham City take to the pitch against Wycombe Wanderers and Reading respectively a day later.
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Meanwhile, Luton could not build on their impressive victory over Norwich City as they fell to defeat to another promotion-chasing side in Swansea at the weekend.
There were 87 minutes between Swansea's two goals against Nathan Jones's men, with Connor Roberts taking all of two minutes to propel the hosts in front before Andre Ayew made sure of the win in the dying embers, by which point Luton were down to 10 after Matty Pearson was given his marching orders.
Despite boasting a measly one win from their last six games in the Championship, Luton are safely in mid-table obscurity as they sit 12th after 16 games of the 2020-21 campaign, with Jones bemoaning the hectic fixture schedule after his side were put to the sword at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Coventry and Luton last faced off in the 2018-19 League One campaign, with the Hatters enjoying a 2-1 win away from home before the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road in their most recent clash.
Coventry City Championship form: LDWDDW
Luton Town Championship form: DDDLWL
Team News
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Coventry goalkeeper Marko Marosi is out for the foreseeable with a broken cheekbone, while Matt Godden and Julien Dacosta join Marosi on the sidelines.
Michael Rose was not included in Robins's squad at the weekend despite overcoming a groin issue, but the defender could be in contention for this one.
Should Robins opt to name any changes for the visit of Luton, Jordan Shipley and Ryan Giles will be vying for recalls, but the Sky Blues have no reason to shuffle the pack too much given their solid spell of form.
With regards to Luton, Pearson will miss out after his sending off in the defeat at Swansea, while it remains to be seen when Sonny Bradley will return to action after a recent bereavement.
Simon Sluga, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Martin Cranie are all expected to miss out again, but Elliot Lee has returned to give Jones an option for change in attack.
Coventry City possible starting lineup:
Wilson; Dabo, Ostigard, Hyam, McCallum; Kelly, Hamer; Walker, O'Hare, Shipley; Biamou
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Shea; Bree, Lockyer, Galloway, Potts; Rea, Tunnicliffe; Moncur, Berry, Clark; Collins
We say: Coventry City 2-1 Luton Town
Coventry have every right to be feeling positive heading into the festive period, but Luton's results do not make for bad reading by any means, and this is sure to be a closely-fought battle. However, the visitors could potentially be missing three centre-backs for this game and we think Coventry will extend their unbeaten run with a slender victory on their own turf.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Coventry City win with a probability of 44.77%. A draw had a probability of 28.2% and a win for Luton Town had a probability of 27.04%.
The most likely scoreline for a Coventry City win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.78%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (8.97%) and 2-1 (8.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (13%), while for a Luton Town win it was 0-1 (10%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood.
