Luton Town and West Bromwich Albion meet in the Championship on Saturday afternoon with just one point separating the two clubs in the standings.
While both teams are realistically just one or two wins away from moving into the playoff spots, defeat at Kenilworth Road has the potential to leave them in the mid-table positions.
Match preview
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When agreeing to become the new West Bromwich Albion manager, Steve Bruce would have hoped to hit the ground running, particularly with games against promotion rivals.
However, that is not how things have panned out with a 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United being followed by a goalless draw at home to Blackburn Rovers.
On the back of a four-game streak without success, West Brom find themselves down in ninth position, as low as they have been all season, and Bruce desperately needs a positive response out of his side.
The Baggies have failed to score in five of their last six fixtures, while the three goals that they scored against struggling Peterborough United all came in the closing stages.
A push for automatic promotion now appears to be out of the question, but victory against one of their direct rivals would give West Brom some much-needed momentum.
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Luton surprisingly lost all of theirs when they went down to Birmingham City by a 3-0 scoreline last weekend, ending a three-game winning streak.
Frustratingly for the Hatters, it cost them a chance to stay within touching distance of the playoffs, and their upcoming contest has the feel of one which they cannot lose.
Although they possess a game in hand, Nathan Jones does not want his squad to be playing catch-up given the work that has gone in to collecting 20 points from their most recent 10 outings.
The defeat at St Andrew's also represented the first time that they had conceded more than twice in a game since September 18, a run stretching 21 matches.
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Team News
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On the back of their setback at Birmingham, Jones is expected to make several changes to his Luton starting lineup.
Gabriel Osho could be handed a recall in defence or midfield, while Fred Onyedinma may return in the final third alongside Elijah Adebayo.
Luke Berry is likely to remain absent with a hamstring injury, but Sonny Bradley may come back into contention.
With Jake Livermore serving the second match of his suspension, the West Brom XI may stay the same.
Grady Diangana is most likely to be handed a recall to the team as a replacement for either Callum Robinson or Karlan Grant.
Daryl Dike is among the players who will miss out through injury.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Shea; Osho, Burke, Naismith; Bree, Campbell, Lansbury, Mpanzu, Bell; Adebayo, Onyedinma
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Furlong, Ajayi, Clarke, Townsend; Molumby, Mowatt; Robinson, Reach, Grant; Carroll
We say: Luton Town 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
While these clubs sit 10th and ninth respectively, the stakes feel high ahead of this contest. Luton are probably the marginal favourites, but we feel that the Baggies will produce an improved showing to claim a point at Kenilworth Road.
Top 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 West Bromwich Albion win with a probability of 36.9%. A win for Luton Town had a probability of 35.34% and a draw had a probability of 27.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Bromwich Albion win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.91%) and 0-2 (6.73%). The likeliest Luton Town win was 1-0 (10.83%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.09%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 6.4% likelihood.
