PREVIEW: Luton Town v Stoke City

Transfer deadline day at Stoke City was dominated by just the one position, that between the posts.

After being linked with a move away from the Bet 365 Stadium pretty much ever since the Potters were relegated out of the Premier League in 2019, keeper Jack Butland made his move back to the top flight, joining Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee.

It saw the 27-year-old end his seven-year association with Stoke, reunited with Eagles boss Roy Hodgson who gave him the first of his nine England caps in 2012.

Meanwhile, coming into the club was Southampton stopper Angus Gunn on a season-long loan.

The 24-year-old goalkeeper cost the Saints £13.5m after arriving from Manchester City two years ago and has played 22 times in the Premier League, although his deal didn't go through in time for this afternoon.

Manager O’Neill said: “We’re excited about Angus joining us as he’s a young goalkeeper with enormous potential who has already made a big impact in the Championship.”

Other than that, O'Neill used the last week to free up some space in his squad, with Tom Edwards moving to Fleetwood Town on loan for the remainder of the season and Gabriel Kyeremateng heading to Swiss side FC Thun for an undisclosed fee.

Centre-back Bruno Martins Indi went to Dutch Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar for the rest of the campaign, as did both Badou Ndiaye and Benik Ofobe, to Turkish sides Fatih Kragumruk and Trabzonspor respectively.

O'Neill is showing signs of finally shifting the momentum at the Bet 365 Stadium, with the club on a downward spiral over recent years, dropping out of the Premier League and almost into League One last term.

City began with a 0-0 draw at Blackpool in the Carabao Cup, going through on penalties, before opening the Championship campaign with a stalemate at Millwall.

The former Northern Ireland boss then engineered an excellent 1-0 triumph at Wolves in the cup as although Bristol City picked up a 2-0 win at the Potters in the league, Stoke's cup form continued as they saw off Gillingham 1-0.

They carried that form into the league, registering a first success at Preston, 1-0, and then had a terrific 1-0 win at Aston Villa in the cup, to set up a home fifth round with Spurs just before Christmas.

Stoke went into the international break with a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham, only the second game they had conceded in this season, having kept six clean sheets from eight, four from four on the road too.

O'Neill took the job after Luton boss Nathan Jones had been sacked last season, and on whether that heightened the desire of Stoke's supporters to triumph at Kenilworth Road this afternoon, he told the Stoke Sentinel: “I think they want to win every game, I don’t see anything in that to be honest.

"We played Millwall at the start of the season so I assume that was a similar situation obviously with the manager.

“I’m not looking at it based on that. I’m looking at the level of the opposition, how they play, how the manager likes to previously set up his team and the challenges of the game on Saturday.

“The other bit, for me, is not really relevant in how I prepare the team and I would assume that supporters want to win every game.”

Team news: Luton could have Tom Lockyer available again after his ankle injury, although the game could be just too soon for both Dan Potts and James Bree.

New signing Joe Morrell should be available, but neither Sam Nombe or Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were signed in time for the contest.

Peter Kioso has signed for Bolton Wanderers for the remainder of the season, with Andrew Shinnie heading to Charlton.

Ryan Shawcross remains out for Stoke, as does Wales international midfielder Joe Allen and Thibaud Verlinden.

Top scorers: Hatters: James Collins (4). Potters: Sam Vokes, Nick Powell, Lee Gregory, Tyrese Campbell, Jacob Brown (1).

Man in the middle: Jeremy Simpson - three games so far this season for the Lancashire official, including Stoke's 0-0 draw at Millwall, showing one red card and seven yellows.

Took 29 matches last season, with 100 yellows and eight reds as he had Town's 3-2 defeat at QPR in September.

The encounter at Rangers was his first Luton game since the 3-2 League Two victory at home over Cambridge United in January 2015.

Also official Hatters twice in their 2011-12 Blue Square Bet Premier campaign, the 0-0 draw at Gateshead and then 2-1 defeat to York City in the play-off final, allowing Matty Blair's clearly offside goal to stand.

Assistant referees are Daniel Leach and Nigel Lugg, with the fourth official Bhupinder Gill.

In charge: Michael O'Neill, 51-year-old, who made over 400 appearances during his career for a host of clubs, including Newcastle United, Wigan Athletic, Hibernian, Coleraine and Portland Timbers out in America.

Was capped 31 times by Northern Ireland, scoring four times, as he retired in 2004, to start a career in financial services.

Returned to football a year later though, named assistant manager at Cowdenbeath, appointed manager of Brechin City in April 2006.

Headed to Shamrock Rovers in December 2008, guiding the team to the League of Ireland title in 2010, while also reaching the group stages of the Europa League in 2011–12.

Unveiled as Northern Ireland manager in December 2011, qualifying for the European Championships in 2016, where they reached the second round.

Turned down an offer to become Scotland manager in January 2018, but couldn't reject the advances of Stoke in November 2019, eventually resigning from his role with Northern Ireland in April this year to concentrate on the Potters.

View from the opposition: Michael O'Neill talking to the club's official website: “They’ve (Luton) done well, they’ve had a good start to the season and got an energetic, youthful team.

“Obviously Nathan (Jones) has gone back there and will have a point to prove as well.

"It’ll be a tough game but we haven’t had any games to date which have been straightforward.

“It’s a typical Championship game away from home, albeit with no crowd.

“Our away form has been good. We have to try to maintain that and do everything possible to pick up three points.”

“We played against Luton when they played with a diamond under Graeme Jones. They haven’t played with that system to date in the games we’ve watched.

“But our focus is on ourselves as much as anything. We won’t pick a team necessarily based on what Luton do, we’ll pick a team based on ourselves."

One to watch: John Obi Mikel - tough-tackling midfielder who started at Lyn Oslo before moving to Chelsea in June 2006.

Made over 350 appearances for the Blues, winning the Premier League twice, FA Cup three times, the League Cup, Community Shield, Europa League and Champions League during his 11 years at Stamford Bridge.

Spells with Middlesbrough and then Trabzonspor followed, before the former Nigerian international, with 91 caps to his name, moved to Stoke in the summer, playing four games so far.

Friendly faces: Town boss Nathan Jones controversially quit Luton for Stoke City in January 2019, leaving Town in the middle of a League One promotion battle for a Potters side already in the Championship.

However, he struggled at the Bet 365 Stadium, winning just six games out of 38, and with Stoke battling against relegation, Jones was sacked in November after just nine months in charge.

Town first team coach Paul Hart also joined Jones at Stoke in January 2019, after leaving his role with Notts County.

He too departed once Jones left, rejoining Luton late last season.

Hatters keeper Harry Isted joined Stoke in January 2016 from Southampton and made one first team appearance, that a 1-0 defeat to Bradford City in the Checkatrade Trophy.

He was a regular their U23s during his time there, until leaving in the summer of 2017 when he signed for Luton, and is currently on loan with National League side Wealdstone.

Played for both: Mark Stein - After being born in South Africa, Stein moved to London with brother Brian and Edwin, and followed them to Luton in 1983.

Spent four years at Kenilworth Road, as one of his clear highlights was coming off the bench to help Town win the Littlewoods Cup in 1988, beating Arsenal 3-2 at Wembley.

Left the Hatters in June 1988, as he went to QPR and headed to Stoke on loan, making the move permanent in September 1991.

It proved an excellent choice, Stein scoring the only goal in the Potters' 1992 League Trophy win over Stockport County and was leading marksman in the 1992-93 season as City won the Second Division title.

A wonderful record of 50 goals in 89 league games saw him move to Chelsea for £1.5m in 1993, spending five years at Stamford Bridge, finding the net 25 times in just over 50 games, although had loan moves back to Stoke, Ipswich and Bournemouth, moving to the Cherries in 1998.

Returned to Kenilworth Road once more in 2000, as Stein played 107 times for the Hatters in total, netting 27 goals, heading to Dagenham & Redbridge in August 2001, where he enjoyed a prolific spell and then Waltham Forest before retiring in 2004.

Moved into physiotherapy and has worked at Barnet, Crawley Town and Rotherham United.

We've got form: It's been very much even-steven when Town have hosted Stoke City at Kenilworth Road in their history, with the first meeting a 1-1 Southern League draw in 1911.

Town did win 2-1 in 1914, but there were no further clashes until 1954 with City came out on top of a Division Two meeting 1-0.

Luton's first Football League success came in September 1954, a 3-1 win, while Gordon Turner bagged all four in a 4-1 triumph in February 1961.

The goals then dried up for Hatters, with five of their next six meetings ending in stalemates, Town not winning for seven matches until a 2-0 Division victory in August 1984, ending a 23-year wait.

Hatters earned a 4-1 win in the Simod Cup in March 1988, Mick Harford scoring two and then a 6-2 thumping on Division One, with Kerry Dixon grabbing a hat-trick.

Since then, Luton have found it very tough going, with their last nine meetings seeing the hosts win once, that a 2-1 Division Two success in 2000 thanks to Phil Gray's double, with three draws and five losses.

In total, Hatters have won seven out of the 25 fixtures, with 10 draws and eight defeats, scoring 37 goals and conceding 29.

Last time out: Luton needed a late James Collins penalty to salvage a point when Stoke City visited Kenilworth Road last season.

The Potters led through Sam Vokes' close range effort on nine minutes, but with time running out, Danny Batth clipped Callum McManaman in the area and Collins did the rest from the spot.

Hatters: Simon Sluga, Martin Cranie, Dan Potts (Callum McManaman73), Matty Pearson, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Glen Rea (George Moncur 58), Ryan Tunnicliffe, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Izzy Brown (Luke Bolton 66), Harry Cornick, James Collins.

Subs not used: Marek Stech, James Bree, Andrew Shinnie, Danny Hylton.

Referee: Andy Woolmer.

Attendance: 10,070.