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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 26
Liverpool v Luton Town
Anfield
Liverpool, England
Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Kick-off is at 21h30
Luton will have their work cut out for them when they take on
Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday, February 21.
The Hatters almost pulled off a famous victory over the Reds in their first-ever top-flight clash at Kenilworth Road in November, having seen Luis Diaz score a dramatic 95th-minute equaliser to cancel out Tahith Chong's 80th-minute opener.
Rob Edwards' side made life difficult for Manchester United at the Kenny on Sunday, February 18 after Rasmus Hojlund struck twice in the opening seven minutes before Carlton Morris replied in the 14th minute to get the hosts back into the contest, although it finished 2-1 despite the Red Devils coming under increasing pressure.
A second successive defeat left Luton just one point clear of the relegation zone in 17th place, however, Burnley (19th) and Sheffield United (20th) weren't able to capitalise after they both lost as well.
The Merseyside giants made light work of Brentford with a 4-1 win at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, February 17 to maintain a two-point lead at the league summit.
Arsenal (2nd) stayed within touching distance after thrashing the Clarets 5-0 at Turf Moor, but Manchester City (3rd) fell two points behind the Gunners after being held to a 1-1 draw by Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.
Aston Villa reclaimed fourth spot from Tottenham courtesy of a 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage, with Spurs going down 2-1 to Wolves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Image copyright: Getty Images
In team news, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp remains without a whole host of players as Joel Matip (ACL), Trent Alexander-Arnold (knee), Dominik Szoboszlai, Thiago Alcantara (both thigh) and Stefan Bajcetic are ruled out, with Alisson (thigh) and Diogo Jota (knee) picking up injuries against Burnley. Curtis Jones (calf) and Darwin Nunez could come back into contention though.
Tom Lockyer (heart condition), Marvelous Nakamba (knee), Mads Andersen (calf), Daiki Hashioka and Elijah Adebayo (thigh) are all unavailable for the visitors.
Klopp praised his players for a "top" performance against the Bees and was impressed with the way they responded after long Jones, Jota and Nunez to injury before half-time.
"The performance level could have dropped (after the injuries), but it was the other way around," the German said. "We played an exceptional game, by far the best game we've played at Brentford.
"Dealing with all the specific situations they create, and being as dominated you can somehow be, be calm in the right moments, be direct in the right moments, use their man-marking, play against the line. All these kind of things. I saw a top game."
Edwards bemoaned a poor start against United, but felt the Hatters came back strongly and had opportunities to come away with three massive points.
"We're really disappointed to lose the game - we can't start the way we did against Manchester United," he said. "Losing Eli, a goal down after 40 seconds... it's not a great way to start to start and it took the players some time to recover.
"However, they responded really well. They were committed to the gameplan and they showed what a really good team we are. It's just a shame we started that way.
"But there's a lot to be proud of, nobody can say we didn't want to go and win that game, that we didn't take risks. We'll pick the lads up, and we'll look to respond well at Anfield on Wednesday."
Head-to-Head (Previous Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 1
Liverpool - 0
Luton - 0
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 26 fixtures:
Wednesday, February 21
21h30: Liverpool v Luton Town
Saturday, February 24
17h00: Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
17h00: Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton
17h00: Crystal Palace v Burnley
17h00: Manchester United v Fulham
19h30: Bournemouth v Manchester City
22h00: Arsenal v Newcastle United
Sunday, February 25
15h30: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Sheffield United
Monday, February 26
22h00: West Ham United v Brentford
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