PREVIEW: Blackburn Rovers v Luton Town

An run of inconsistent results has begun to hinder Blackburn's quite public aims of featuring in the Championship promotion race this term.

Tony Mowbray's side went on a seven match unbeaten run in November, as they won four and drew three, including being held 1-1 at Luton to move up to ninth place, just two points off their intended top six target.

A 1-0 defeat at Bristol City ended that sequence, as they also lost 2-1 at home to Norwich, although did see off Rotherham 2-1 at Ewood Park.

However, they were unable to string another unbeaten run together, losing to Stoke and drawing with Sheffield Wednesday, also going down at Huddersfield.

Blackburn did win at Birmingham, but they went out of the FA Cup to League One Doncaster, although appear to be showing signs of another resurgence again in the league, as a 1-1 draw at home was followed by a 1-0 triumph at Middlesbrough on Sunday.

It means Mowbray's men are now on a run of three league games without defeat, taking seven points, as they sit 10th in the Championship, and six points away from those play-off berths.

Defender Darragh Lenihan wants to make sure the club's unbeaten league start to 2021 remains in tact at 5pm on Saturday, telling the club's official website: “We’ve had a couple of tough games at Luton and lost 2-1 at home to them last season, so we’ve let ourselves down against them a couple of times.

“We owe them one and the boys will prepare as well as we can as we aim to beat them.

“It’s a massive few weeks ahead for us, and the fact that we have no midweek game gives us a chance to work on things in the build up to games.”

With a few days left of the January transfer window, Mowbray is still weighing up whether to make his second acquisition, having signed Everton's England U19 defender Jarrad Branthwaite on loan until the end of the season.

Rovers are reportedly interested in Crewe Alexandra left back Harry Pickering, tabling a bid for the highly-rated 22-year-old earlier this month, while there was also speculation that another Toffee was being sought, teenage winger Anthony Gordon.

Rovers have let three leave though on loan, midfielder Harry Chapman going to Shrewsbury Town, with young keeper Joe Hilton moving to Ross County, and Brad Lyons joining Morecambe.

Team news: Martin Cranie is expected to be fit for Luton, with Joe Morrell also back in training now following his heel injury.

For Rovers, Bradley Johnson is out with a hamstring injury, while former German international Lewis Holtby could be back in contention following a thigh problem.

Elliott Bennett should be available for the bench, but Daniel Ayala is still sidelined, and Derrick Williams and Scott Wharton are out for the season.

Top scorers: Hatters: James Collins (9). Rovers: Adam Armstrong (17).

Milestones: Harry Cornick will make his 150th appearance for the Hatters if he plays against Blackburn.

The 25-year-old joined Luton in August 2017 from Bournemouth and has scored 22 goals so far, his last coming back in June 2020.

Man in the middle: Jeremy Simpson – third game of the season for the Hatters so far, having had the 2-0 home defeat to Stoke City and 3-0 home win over Preston North End.

Has refereed 15 games in total this term, showing 49 yellows and three reds, as last season he took Town's 3-2 defeat to QPR.

That was his first Luton game for four years, having officiated the 3-2 League Two victory at home over Cambridge United in January 2015.

Also took Town twice in their 2011-12 Blue Square Bet Premier season, the 0-0 draw at Gateshead and 2-1 defeat to York City in the play-off final at Wembley.

Wade Smith and Mark Dwyer are the referee's assistants, with the fourth official Sebastian Stockbridge.

In charge: Tony Mowbray – 57-year-old had an excellent playing career with Middlesbrough, before heading to Celtic in 1991 for £1m after making almost 350 appearances.

Moved to Ipswich Town in 1995 and played for another five years, moving into coaching at Portman Road once he retired, with a brief spell as caretaker manager.

Named Hibernian manager in May 2004, before 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 left to take over at Scottish giants Celtic in June 2009, but was sacked after a poor run of results after less than 12 months.

Named manager of former club Middlesbrough in October 2010, spending three years in charge, while was also Coventry City boss 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.

View from the opposition: Boss Tony Mowbray talking to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "We have a massive game against Luton Town next, who, for some reason we can’t seem to beat in recent times.

“I watched them in the FA Cup away at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea and although they lost 3-1, they looked like a snarling outfit who were ready to come at their opposition, but also had the ability to play on the front-foot, full of energy and looked capable of causing teams problems.

“It’s a big game for us and we need to be ready to battle against them in order to get the three points that would take us closer towards our aim of finishing inside the top six.”

Friendly faces: Town defender Matty Pearson came through the ranks at Ewood Park, but never made a first team appearance for Rovers.

Had a loan spell with Lincoln City and then moved to Rochdale in July 2012.

Luton midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe joined Blackburn on loan from Manchester United back in September 2014, spending three months at Ewood Park.

Made 17 Championship appearances in total, scoring once in the 2-2 draw against Watford.

Played for both: Attacking midfielder Alan Birchenall came through the ranks at Sheffield United, endearing himself to Blades fans by scoring both goals against Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-0 win at Hillsbrough in his second game.

Was one of the first players to be transferred for a fee of £100,000 when he joined Chelsea in 1967 after playing over 100 games for United, then joined Crystal Palace for another six figure fee three years later.

Moved to Leicester City for £80,000 in September 1971, spending six years with the Foxes, until joining Notts County and then going to America to play for the San Jose Earthquakes and the Memphis Rogues.

Returned to England in 1978, signing for Blackburn Rovers, as he made 18 appearances.

Moved to Luton in 1979, featuring 10 times for the Hatters, before spells at Hereford United and Trowbridge Town where he was player manager.

One to watch: Adam Armstrong - prolific striker is quite right feared at this level, sitting joint top of the Championship scoring charts alongside Brentford's Ivan Toney with 16 goals.

Started out with Newcastle United, but it was a loan spell at Coventry City where he made his name, netting 20 in 40.

Further temporary stays at Barnsley and Bolton didn't quite work out, as he joined Blackburn in January 2018, making the move permanent in the August.

Has scored 52 goals now for the club in 144 appearances, including 17 this term.

We've got form: The Hatters did have a pretty terrible record at Ewood Park since their first visit in March 1938, up until recently.

Town's opening trip saw a Division contest end 2-2, before it took the Luton some 10 matches and 22 years to enjoy their first victory, triumphing 2-0 in a Division One clash on April 15, 1960, Joe McBride and Billy Bingham on target.

That then led to a six game winless run though, Town not scoring at all, a sequence spanning 21 years, as their only positive result was a 0-0 draw in October 1978.

However, they finally stopped the rot with a 1-0 Division Two win in 1981, David Moss's penalty settling the contest, while last season's victory made it two wins in a row and just one defeat from four.

In total, Luton have won three, with five draws and 11 defeats from their 19 trips, scoring 11 goals and conceding 28, failing to score in 11 of their visits.

However, the Hatters are also undefeated against their opponents in their last six league games both home and away, winning five and drawing just one.

Last time out: Town ran out impressive 2-1 winners at Ewood Park in September last season.

Ahead through James Collins' powerful first half header from Izzy Brown's pinpoint cross, the hosts levelled when Lewis Travis found the target eight minutes before half time.

After the break, Matty Pearson rose highest to nod home Brown's free kick with 57 gone as although Blackburn thought they had equalised through Bradley Dack, it was ruled out for offside.

Hatters: Simon Sluga, James Bree, Dan Potts, Matty pearson, Sonny Bradley, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Izzy Brown (Callum McManaman 71), Jacob Butterfield (Luke Berry 83), Harry Cornick (Lloyd Jones 87), James Collins.

Subs not used: James Shea, Luke Bolton, Elliot Lee, Kazenga LuaLua.

Referee: Gavin Ward.

Attendance: 15,319.