Sports Mole previews Saturday’s friendly clash between Goztepe SK and Luton Town, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Championship side Luton Town continue their pre-season preparations in Slovenia where they will face Turkish club Goztepe in a friendly on Saturday.
While this fixture represents the fourth of pre-season for the Hatters, Goz Goz are gearing up for their third friendly of the summer.
Match preview
© Reuters
Luton are preparing for life back in the Championship after their valiant efforts to avoid the drop in their first-ever Premier League season in 2023-24 were in vain.
The Hatters won just one of their final 17 top-flight matches and eventually finished 18th in the table with 26 points, six points adrift of safety.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Rob Edwards‘s side began their pre-season programme at The Brache at the beginning of this month, with a resounding 3-0 victory over Stevenage in a behind-closed-doors friendly followed by a 2-1 defeat to Danish Superliga side AGF last Saturday.
Luton have since made a winning start to life in Slovenia, with an early goal from last season’s top scorer Carlton Morris proving to be the difference as the Hatters earned a slender 1-0 win over Ruhk Lviv on Tuesday.
Victory against Goztepe will be the aim for Luton on Saturday, before they travel to face Dundee United in Scotland and Celta Vigo at Kenilworth Road in their final two friendly fixtures before playing host to Burnley in their opening Championship game of the new season on August 12.
Like Luton, Goztepe are also gearing up for the new season in a different division, but while the Hatters were relegated from the English top flight in 2023-24, Goz Goz finished second in the TFF First League to secure automatic promotion to the top tier of Turkish football.
Managed by Stanimir Stoilov, Goztepe have already suffered defeat to English opposition during their pre-season programme in Slovenia. Indeed, they lost 3-1 to Charlton Athletic – a division below Luton – before they came from behind to rescue a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw with Hungarian outfit Fehervar on Wednesday.
After falling two goals behind in the opening 21 minutes, Ahmed Ildiz and Kubilay Kanatsizkus both made the net ripple before half time, the latter scoring his equaliser in the 44th minute, and Stoilov is sure to feel pleased with the response of his players following a less-than-ideal start to the contest.
Goztepe will be targeting their first pre-season victory of the summer in this weekend’s encounter with Luton, in what is currently scheduled to be their penultimate friendly fixture before taking on Istra 1961 three days later.
Luton Town friendly form:
Team News
© Reuters
Luton boss Edwards has revealed that Tahith Chong‘s injury is not as bad as first feared; the 24-year-old was forced off in the early stages of the second period against Ruhk Liviv after colliding with a grassy bank behind the goal, but he is set to be available for selection on Saturday.
However, right-sided defender Daiki Hashioka has emerged as an injury doubt after he was taken off in the first half of the same match with a suspected calf injury.
New signings Shandon Baptiste and Reuell Walters did not feature in Luton’s last match but they could be ready to play in some capacity against Goztepe, as could Morris who has scored three goals so far in pre-season.
As for Goztepe, Stoilov is set to continue handing minutes to as many of his senior players as they look to build up match fitness ahead of the new season.
Yalcin Kayan was the club’s top scorer last season with nine goals and he could be handed a recall in centre-midfield, while the likes of Mateusz Lis, Ogun Bayrak and Taha Altikardes are all in contention to feature versus Luton.
Goztepe SK possible starting lineup:
Townsend; Doughty, Johnson, Holmes, Francis-Clarke; Luker, Mpanzu, Clark; Ogbene, Woodrow, Morris
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Ozcimen; Altikardes, Heliton, Nukan; Bayrak, Ildiz, Lundqvist, Dennis, Uzum; Kanatsizkuş, Romulo
We say: Goztepe SK 0-2 Luton Town
A closely-fought contest could be on the cards in Slovenia this weekend, but we feel that Luton will have the edge in the final third and should find a way to navigate past Goztepe en route to victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.