Luton confirm Millers game is on as Town apologise to fans affected by TV picks

Luton Town have confirmed this weekend’s League One clash at home to Rotherham United will still go ahead despite international call-ups for three of their players.

Although Town will be without midfielders George Saville and Marvelous Nakamba, plus deadline day signing Ali Al-Hamadi as well, with Saville suspended for the contest due to picking up his fifth booking of the campaign against Stockport County on Saturday, then the fixture can take place as normal. The summer signing will now head away with Northern Ireland as they travel to Slovakia for a World Cup Group A qualifier on Friday, before hosting Luxembourg in another qualifier on Monday.

Al-Hamadi, who made his second appearance for Luton at Edgeley Park when coming on as a late substitute, is part of the Iraq squad who go to UAE in their World Cup qualifier on Thursday and then entertain the same opposition next Tuesday. For Nakamba, he is part of the Warriors travelling party who have two international friendlies, first in Algeria on Thursday and then Qatar on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Hatters have apologised to any supporters who are inconvenienced by the latest round of fixtures selected for live coverage by Sky Sports, which will see Luton head to Plymouth Argyle for a 12.30pm kick-off in the new year. Town have had three of their games picked for television, two of them at home, against Stevenage on Saturday, January 10 and Bradford City the following month, that match on Saturday, February 7, with both clashes to start at 12.30pm.

However, while last term they had to go to Home Park on a Friday night, they will now face the Pilgrims on Saturday, January 24, also at 12.30pm, as Town fans will need to head out even earlier to make the over 450-mile round trip to Devon. A statement on Luton’s official website said: “Three of the Hatters' Sky Bet League One fixtures have been moved to earlier kick-offs in the latest EFL selections for live broadcast on Sky Sports. The following matches all remain on their original dates, but with kick-offs brought forward to 12.30pm for broadcast on the Sky Sports+ app. We apologise to any supporters inconvenienced by these changes, which are beyond the Club's control.”

Finally, Town’s FA Cup second round trip to League Two side Fleetwood has been confirmed to take place on Saturday, December 6 at 3pm. A club statement added: “The FA have announced live broadcast picks, but the Town's game against the League Two side has not been selected. The visit to the Fylde coast brings back memories of the League One promotion-winning season six years ago, when the Hatters - under the interim charge of Mick Harford - won 2-0 in February 2019 to set a new Football League club record of 20 games unbeaten. That sequence stretched to 28 matches by the time we were beaten at Charlton in the April, shortly before being crowned champions.”