PREVIEW: Luton Town v Blackburn Rovers

Blackburn Rovers are emerging from the pack to make themselves not just play-off contenders this season, but clear automatic promotion candidates as well.

A humbling and embarrassing 7-0 defeat at the hands of Fulham at Ewood Park on November 3 left Tony Mowbray' s side sitting 12th in the table, with six wins, five draws and fives losses, scoring 25 goals and conceding 25.

They sat on 23 points from their 16 matches, some 14 behind then leaders Bournemouth, but rather than go into their shells and let the battering overly affect them, Rovers have somehow drawn strength from the result, using it as a catalyst to a magnificent run of form.

Just three days later, Rovers gathered themselves to show a superb reaction, seeing off Sheffield United 3-1 on home soil, immediately appeasing their own fans, while then drawing 1-1 at Bristol City.

it started to get better though, Rovers going on to win six matches in a row, keeping five successive clean sheets, even more remarkable after shipping that seven, only eventually breached when beating Barnsley 2-1.

The run of wins was ended by a goalless draw against Huddersfield, as although they went out of the FA Cup with a third round defeat to Wigan, Mowbray's men got back to winning ways in the league, with a 1-0 success at Cardiff.

Their fine form was finally ended with a 2-0 defeat at Hull City, but Rovers quickly got over the disappointment to beat Middlesbrough 1-0 on Monday night.

It means that with nine victories from 12 matches, two draws and one defeat, Rovers have catapulted themselves firmly into the top two, now three points above third placed Bournemouth albeit having played a game more than the Cherries.

After finishes of 15th, 11th and 15th in their last three seasons, Mowbray has warned supporters not to get too excited about their position with plenty of football still to be played, telling the Lancashire Telegraph, saying: “As I keep saying, the message is out there for the owners as well, let’s not get carried away, let’s play each game.

“It was a great result for us on Monday night in a tough, tough game and had it gone the other way we could have been staring at possibly three defeats in a row if we couldn’t get anything at Luton this weekend and all of a sudden the sound would be of the wheels coming off and that’s how fast it can change.

“You lose a home game and then you have two away games to follow and everyone is telling you how poor it is.

“That’s football, you have to stay pretty level minded and keep working really hard.”

Much of the good run has been done thanks to a splendid goalscoring instincts from Ben Brereton-Diaz, who misses the trip to Kenilworth Road this weekend, as he is away with Chile, scoring eight goals in that time, to make it an impressive 22 for club and country so far.

However, Mowbray knows that the club face some financial decisions ahead of the transfer window about their top players and just how realistically they can push for the top flight, saying: "If the phone rings and we have these decisions to make, what are we doing?

"Are we keeping them, hoping we can get over the line and then they will have a bigger decision to make if we did get to the Premier League?

"Or if that's their ambition now, are they going to jump in January if somebody offers the right amount of money?"

"The owners have put a lot of money in and, I'm not sure it's the right word, but you have to be careful about mortgaging the club, of taking your wage bill from X to X-times-one-and-a-half.

"At some stage it becomes unsustainable. There's a balance to be had."

During the window, Blackburn have moved to pounce three times already, bringing in Drogheda defender James Brown, plus full back Deyovaisio Zeefuik from German side Hertha Berlin.

They also signed winger Dilan Markanday from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee, although he suffered a bad hamstring injury on his debut and is now facing a period of time out.

Going the other way has been Tyler Magloire on loan to Northampton, Hayden Carter has moved to Portsmouth until May.

Team news: Luton have a few injury issues ahead of the game, with late calls over Sonny Bradley, Jordan Clark and Harry Cornick, while Elijah Adebayo is a slight doubt as well.

Defender Reece Burke is back though having served a one game suspension against Bristol City on Tuesday night.

Rovers duo Tyrhys Dolan and Harry Pickering aren't available due to hamstring injuries, although midfielder Joe Rothwell could come back into contention after a back issue.

Leading scorer Ben Brereton-Diaz is with Chile on international duty, while new signing Dilan Markanday is out with a hamstring injury, Ian Poveda (ankle) and Bradley Dack (ACL) both missing too.

Top scorers - Hatters: Elijah Adebayo (12). Rovers: Ben Brereton-Diaz (20).

Milestones: If fit for the contest, Sonny Bradley will play his 150th game for Luton on Saturday.

The defender joined on a free transfer from Plymouth Argyle back in July 2018 and has scored five goals since.

Meanwhile, hero of the hour against Bournemouth, Kal Naismith, will reach 50 appearances for the Hatters, the versatile Scotsman having netted three times.

Man in the middle: James Linington – official was at Kenilworth Road just three weeks ago for the 4-0 FA Cup victory against Harrogate Town, while he has taken 16 games this term, showing 64 yellows and one red.

Refereed Luton twice in the 2019-20 season, the 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff and also an embarrassing 5-0 reverse against Reading.

Prior to that, he had the 4-1 League Two triumph at Exeter in October 2017 and Town's 2-1 injury time success at Wycombe that season.

Previous matches have seen Linington officiate a 3-1 win over Bristol City in the Capital One Cup in August 2015 and the 1-0 win over Carlisle the campaign before, sending off Luke Wilkinson.

Before that, he had the whistle for Luton twice at Kenilworth Road in the 2008-09 season, a 2-1 defeat to Darlington and 1-1 draw with Rochdale.

Assistant referees are Lee Venamore and Rob Smith, with the fourth official James Bell.

In charge: Tony Mowbray – vastly experienced 58-year-old had an impressive playing career with Middlesbrough, captaining the team back into the top flight, heading to Celtic in 1991 for £1m after playing almost 350 times.

After almost 100 outings in Scotland, the defender joined Ipswich Town in 1995 for £300,000 staying for five years, moving into coaching at Portman Road once he retired, with a brief spell as caretaker manager.

Named Hibernian manager in May 2004, returning to England as West Bromwich Albion boss in October 2006, winning promotion to the Premier League and reaching the FA Cup semi-final too.

Mowbray departed for Celtic in June 2009, sacked after a poor run of results less than 12 months later.

Returned to the Riverside to take over at Boro in October 2010 for three years, departing after just two wins from 12, appointed Coventry City chief in March 2015.

Resigned 18 months later and was named Blackburn head coach in February 2017, the club going down to League One, only for Mowbray to lead them straight back up, and is now the longest serving manager in the Championship.

Managerial records: Nathan Jones has gone up against Tony Mowbray and Blackburn five times, winning twice, once as Stoke City chief and once as Luton boss, the 3-2 triumph on the final day of the 2019-20 season to keep Luton up.

A draw and a loss last term was followed up by a 2-2 draw this term thanks to Luke Berry's brace, including a stoppage time leveller.

Mowbray has taken on Luton six times, the four matches already mentioned, plus Rovers' 2-1 defeat to Town in Luton's first season back with James Collins and Matty Pearson on target at Ewood Park.

He did also enjoy a 3-2 Championship victory as West Bromwich Albion manager back in January 2007.

View from the opposition: Boss Tony Mowbray telling the Lancashire Telegraph - “We’ll prepare for Luton and get the team in right frame of mind and working on the principles of play that we work on on a regular basis and get ready for Saturday and turn up at Luton, a place that’s historically been a tough place for us to go.

“It’s a tight pitch, a team that are very, very much on the front foot, athletic, get the ball up to big strikers, so you have to be really at it to get something at Luton.

“We’ll go there as we always do and be up for the challenge.

“I don’t think Luton need worry that we’re going to throw some extravagant plan B in front of them.

“We will turn up and bring our best intensity levels and the way we play and ask questions of them and see if it’s enough to get a victory.”

One to watch: Reda Khadra - 20-year-old German winger who had a youth career with CFC Hertha 06 and TeBe Berlin, before moving to Borussia Dortmund.

He was snapped up by Premier League side Brighton in January 2020 and has made one Premier League appearance for the Seagulls, that coming as a substitute against Manchester City.

Loaned to Blackburn in August to get valuable first team minutes and was eased in by Mowbray, with six appearances from the bench, finally given a full debut against Sheffield United.

Scored in the 3-1 win and has gone on to start 11 of the last 13 games, netting four times in total as well.

Friendly faces: Town left back Amari'i Bell spent time as a youngster with West Bromwich Albion, Solihull Moors and Birmingham City, signing a pro deal with the Blues in June 2012.

Had loan spells at Nuneaton, Kidderminster, Mansfield, Swindon, Gillingham, heading to Fleetwood in May 2015.

Played over 100 appearances for the Cod Army during his three year stay then going to Blackburn Rovers in January 2018.

Bell played 99 times at Ewood Park, netting three goals, helping Rovers win promotion back to the Championship, before being released in the summer.

The Jamaican international was snapped up by Luton and has made 22 appearances now, scoring the one goal.

Played for both: Paul Dickov - forward signed on loan for the Hatters from Arsenal back in October 1993, when Town were in the second tier.

Played 15 times, scoring once, that in the 1-0 win over Notts County at Kenilworth Road.

Went to Brighton on loan and was sold to Manchester City for £1m in August 1996, scoring 41 goals in 181 outings, none more important that the stoppage time equaliser against Gillingham in the 1998 Division Two play-off final, before heading to Leicester City in February 2002.

Sold to Blackburn in £150,000 in June 2004 as he spent two years with the Rovers, netting 17 goals from 61 matches as he went back to Manchester City for a free.

Finished his career with spells at Crystal Palace, Blackpool Leicester, Derby, Leeds and Oldham, retiring in May 2011.

Played 16 times for Scotland too, netting once as tried his luck as a manager, with spells in charge of Oldham Athletic and Doncaster Rovers, but now works mostly as a pundit.

We've got form: Luton have enjoyed almost real success over Blackburn in their matches at Kenilworth Road, unbeaten in all 21 of their league encounters.

The Hatters began with a 4-1 win back in November 1937, as they went on to claim some goal-laden victories, including by margins of 5-2, 6-0 and 7-3.

They also won 6-1 in the FA Cup in January 1953 too while recent times and the Hatters have stayed on top, suffering their only defeat in the FA Cup fourth round back in January 2007, going down 4-0.

Luton famously won 3-2 to secure their Championship status in July 2020, as in total they have won 14 from 24 games, drawing nine and losing one, scoring 56 goals, kept out just twice and conceding 24, with Rovers shut out on seven occasions.

Last time out: Luton were held to a 1-1 draw by Blackburn in their Championship clash at Kenilworth Road last season.

Luke Berry had put the Hatters ahead on 66 minutes from James Collins' cross-shot, only for Town to concede to Sam Gallagher's close range strike six minutes later as the spoils were shared.

Hatters: Simon Sluga, Martin Cranie (Ryan Tunnicliffe 89), Rhys Norrington-Davies, Matty Pearson, Sonny Bradley, Glen Rea, Luke Berry (Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu 77), George Moncur (Kazenga LuaLua 76), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Harry Cornick (James Collins 59), Elliot Lee (James Bree 59).

Subs not used: James Shea, Tom Lockyer, Jordan Clark, Sam Nombe.

Referee: Gavin Ward.

Attendance: None.