Having lost their last four Championship matches on the trot, Sunday’s hosts, Bristol City, know they must make home advantage count at Ashton Gate in this upcoming fixture against relegation candidates, Luton Town.
This miserable sequence of results has once again seen the west country club from being possible play-off contenders down to mid-table dwellers as Bristol City now occupy 10th place on the Championship ladder and now trail 6th placed Preston North End by 4 points.
Recent disappointing defeats to Millwall, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday and their Boxing Day 3-2 loss at Charlton Athletic mean that Lee Johnson’s side simply cannot afford another loss against Luton Town as The Robins look to keep in touch with the play-off pack.
Back-to-back defeats at Ashton Gate in recent times to Millwall and Blackburn have put a major dent in Bristol City’s play-off plans but Bristol City can take comfort from the fact that Millwall and Blackburn are in the top 9 of form teams in the past 8 matches, and Luton Town have an extremely poor away record this season.
Onto Luton Town then, and The Hatters were within a whisker of grabbing a much-needed three points in their Boxing Day clash against Fulham at Kenilworth Road, only to be denied by the visitors scoring a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw.
It’s these sort of results that contribute to a team’s decline in results and ultimately has a negative effect on their confidence and Luton have now failed to win any of their last four matches in the Championship.
The visitors sit third from bottom in the second tier and therefore among the relegation places ahead of this difficult trip to face Bristol City, having lost 3 of these last 4 matches which includes defeats to Stoke City 3-0, Preston North End 2-1 and a 1-0 loss to Swansea City.
As mentioned earlier, Luton’s results away from home have been woeful as The Hatters have claimed just 2 wins on the road all season but have lost the other 10 - they also make their way to the west country having lost their last 7 matches on the trot on the road and they look to have their work cut out here, even against a struggling Bristol City outfit.