Key events
Half-time reading
“With your outstanding insight into the mind of Gareth Southgate,” deadpans J oe Pearson, “do you think that Grealish’s injury and Rashford’s wobble have moved Watkins up the ladder for selection into the Euros? I mean, the kid’s on fire!”
I don’t think their form is too important as they play on the left, but Callum Wilson’s stop-start season has certainly helped Watkins. I’ll be mildly flabberstonished if he isn’t in the squad as back up for Harry Kane.
Half time: Luton 0-2 Aston Villa
Barkley’s free-kick is the last of the half: it hits the wall and Michael Oliver blows his whistle. Villa are in control after an excellent first-half performance. They kept Luton eerily quiet and created a steady stream of chances, two of which were taken by Ollie Watkins.
45+8 min Chong is fouled 25 yards from goal by McGinn. This will probably be the last kick of the half.
45+6 min Bailey shoots straight at Kaminski from the edge of the area. A third Villa goal would surely kill off even Luton’s irrepressibles.
45+5 min Bailey fouls Ogbene and is booked. Luton have shown more intent in the last few minutes, and as I type Townsend heads over from 10 yards after a game of head tennis sparked by Ogbene’s cross. It wasn’t an easy chance, but it was probably the best Luton have had so far.
45 min Seven minutes of added time because of the injuries. Doughty’s free-kick is headed back across goal by Morris, who might have gone for goal from that position. Chong then has a shot blocked by Lenglet and appeals for handball against Moreno, but the ball ricocheted straight at him so there’s nothing doing.
45 min Douglas Luiz is booked for a fairly soft foul on Clark.
44 min: Brilliant save by Kaminski! Rogers, who has looked good since coming no, cuts inside Burke on the edge of the area and flashes a curling shot that is tipped over acrobatically by Kaminski, leaping to his left.
41 min Villa have been terrific and fully deserve their 2-0 lead.
GOAL! Luton 0-2 Aston Villa (Watkins 39)
Yep, VAR has done Villa a solid: Watkins was being played onside by Ogbene and now he’s on a hat-trick!
I think Watkins is onside here. Luiz took the free-kick quickly, lofting it over the top, and Watkins controlled it on the run before beating Kaminski with a curling shot that went in off the inside of the far post.
38 min Burke is booked for pulling back Rogers. The free-kick leads to a disallowed goal from Watkins, though he thinks he might have been onside.
35 min A mishit cross from Ogbene lands on the roof of the net. I haven’t watched every Luton game this season but this is the most subdued I’ve seen them.
34 min: Just wide from Watkins! Villa are in total control here. Rogers curls a good ball across the field to Bailey, who shoves it straight down the line for Watkins. He moves the ball away from Mengi on the edge of the area and hammers an angled shot just wide of the far post.
32 min McGinn’s fast cross is headed over by Lenglet, who had to jump away from goal to make contact. He was still up following a couple of Villa corners.
29 min: Villa substitution Morgan Rogers, signed from Middlesbrough in January replaces the injured Jacob Ramsey. He didn’t recover from the knock he sustained in the 14th minute, although it doesn’t seem too bad in the grand scheme.
29 min Tielemans’ early ball gives Bailey the chance to run Ogbene. Both players fall over just outside the area but there are no appeals and the referee is happy to play on.
26 min In a weird way, that goal might do Luton some good. We know they respond well to adversity and they have looked half asleep until now.
Ollie Watkins gets his 20th goal of the season with an almost offensively simple goal. Bailey curled the corner to the near post, where Watkins ran away from Mengi and leapt unchallenged to head into the net. There was nobody on the line and Kaminski had no real chance of getting across.
GOAL! Luton 0-1 Aston Villa (Watkins 24)
Well that was easy.
23 min: Good save by Kaminski! A moment of quality from Villa. McGinn steals the ball in midfield and gives it to Bailey, who ushers Watkins through on goal with an early pass. He whacks a shot on the turn that takes a deflection off the sliding Mengi and is pushed over by Kaminski.
22 min Watkins races down the right with intent, but there’s a but coming: his cross is too close to Kaminski.
It’s been a poor game so far.
19 min The match is pretty even territorially, but Villa are the only ones who have looked like scoring so far. Luton seem slightly subdued, the players and the crowd.
16 min When the corner is eventually taken, Tielemans’ outswinger is headed across goal and wide by Douglas Luiz. He was 10 yards out and in a lot of space, but he couldn’t get over the ball to keep his header down.
14 min: Good save from Kaminski McGinn barrels forward from midfield and angled a nice pass into Ramsey onto the edge of the area. He whips a first-time curler across goal and Kaminski springs to his left to push it behind.
Ramsey stayed down after that shot and is receiving treatment to his left foot.
12 min Ramsey tries to hold Barkley off with a hand to the face and sends him to the canvas. Just a free-kick.
10 min It’s been a fairly bitty start to the game. Villa put together a couple of nice moves before Bell’s injury but nothing much has happened since.
7 min In fact Kabore has stayed at right wing-back. Ogbene has gone to the left and Alfie Doughty is playing as the third centre-back.
5 min: Luton substitution Poor Amari’i Bell is going off with what looks like a hamstring strain. Chiedozie Ogbene replaces him, so Kabore will move to centre-back.
4 min Douglas Luiz puts Ramsey through in the inside-left channel with a lovely first-time pass, but he’s a long way from goal and Mengi has time to get back and make a good tackle.
Oh dear, this isn’t good: Amari’i Bell, who went off injured against Manchester City in the week, is done and has a bugger-my-luck expression on his face.
2 min An early sniff for Villa. Watkins runs at Mengi and plays in the overlapping Bailey on the right. His first-time cross comes at an awkward height for Ramsey, eight yards out, and he chests the ball well wide of the far post. He was trying to control the ball rather than score.
1 min Peep peep! Luton kick off from left to right as we watch.
The players gather round the centre circle for a minute’s silence in honour of Chris Nicholl, who died a week ago.
Here he is scoring one of the better League Cup final goals.
The rest of our Premier League match reports
The match reports are starting to drop. Let’s start with Brentford 2-2 Chelsea.
Premier League results
And this is the updated league table.
Darwin Nunez has scored a 99th-minute winner for Liverpool at City Ground. Blimey. This is all very good for Luton. If they win today they’ll be a point behind Forest and two behind Everton with a game in hand on both.
Tomas Soucek has scored a late winner for West Ham at Goodison Park, which is great news for Luton – especially as Nottm Forest and Brentford are both drawing. It’s getting very cosy down there.
A bit of pre-match reading
Everton’s leap up the table having had four points returned by the Premier League has added an extra layer to the farce that the relegation battle could become. Luton have gone from one point to four adrift of the last safe spot thanks to the legal minds deciding what the right punishment is for falling foul of Premier League rules. It must be terribly distracting for the Hatters to wonder what will happen next, with Everton (again) and Nottingham Forest charged over profitability and sustainability breaches, which could lead to more deductions.
All Luton can do is focus on themselves in an attempt to finish on the right side of the line. After three consecutive defeats in the league, getting back on track with a positive performance is imperative heading into a crucial month when they will face Crystal Palace and Forest.
Told you
There’s just under 10 minutes remaining in the 3pm games. As things stand it’s a decent day for Luton and Villa, though you’d expect at least one of Everton, Nottm Forest or Spurs to get a late winner.
Team news
Rob Edwards makes three changes to the Luton side that lost to Manchester City in the week. Thomas Kaminski returns in goal, with Tim Krul doing one; Issa Kabore is preferred to Chiedozie Ogbene at right wing-back and Andros Townsend comes in for Cauley Woodrow.
One change for Villa: Ezri Konsa is in for Pau Torres, who is only fit enough for the bench. No point risking him with Ajax to play on Thursday.
Luton (3-4-2-1) Kaminski; Burke, Mengi, Bell; Kabore, Clark, Barkley, Doughty; Townsend, Chong; Morris.
Substitutes: Shea, Krul, Hashioka, Piesold, Berry, Ruddock Mpanzu, Nelson, Ogbene, Woodrow.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1ish) Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Lenglet, Moreno; McGinn, Luiz; Bailey, Tielemans, Ramsey; Watkins.
Substitutes: Olsen, Digne, Torres, Chambers, Kester-Hayden, Zaniolo, Iroegbunam, Diaby, Rogers.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Luton v Aston Villa in the Premier League. This is Luton’s last chance to beat a Champions League-chasing team at Kenilworth Road. They’ve troubled all of them, yet have only one point to show from games against Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Man Utd. They were also plugged 6-2 by City in the FA Cup in the week, but that doesn’t particularly suit our narrative so we’re not going to dwell on it.
Luton and Villa both have their eyes on fourth, fourth bottom in Villa’s case. Their need for points, and the non-negotiable positivity of both teams, should make fora lively evening in Bedfordshire.
Kick off 5.30pm.
