Luton vs Sheff Wed Prediction: Hatters going back-to-back against Owls

Luton Town will be looking to back up their first Championship win of the season when they host Sheffield Wednesday at Kenilworth Road on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Manager Rob Edwards insisted the standard still has to go up despite their 1-0 win at Millwall last time out, while Wednesday dropped two points late on against QPR. Here are my Luton vs Sheff Wed predictions.

Team News

Daiki Hashioka is still waiting for his Luton Town debut due to the ankle injury he suffered in pre-season, but there has been good news for the Hatters this week with the contract extension signed by Alfie Doughty.

The versatile wingman, who arrived from Stoke City in 2022, could switch back to the left here as new signing Victor Moses comes into contention on the right.

Carlton Morris came off the bench to replace Elijah Adebayo at Millwall but could be used alongside his fellow striker in a slight change of shape against the Owls.

Wednesday boss Danny Rohl could welcome back Dominic Iorfa after the big centre-back missed the last two league fixtures with injury.

Rohl made 11 changes for the third consecutive round in the Carabao Cup in midweek, and Di’Shon Bernard should be rewarded for netting the only goal in that knockout win over Blackpool with a starting shirt.

Bernard was a sub against QPR last week due to his late return from international duty with Jamaica, and his Reggae Boyz team-mate Jamal Lowe could also vie for a return at Kenilworth Road.

Nathaniel Chalobah remains Wednesday’s only long-term absentee.

Luton vs Sheff Wed Odds

Luton are being backed by Betfred to go back-to-back after their struggles prior to the international break. They have Rob Edwards’ side at 5/6 to make a further move up the table with a first home win of the campaign.

Wednesday are 3/1 to pick up a first win in five attempts since their opening-day hammering over Plymouth Argyle, while the draw is an 11/4 shot, implying a 26.7% likelihood.

You can bet on both teams to score at 8/11.

Only Luton to score @ 11/5

I’m an optimistic sort. Even after a horrific performance in the 3-0 loss at Millwall which extended Wednesday’s losing streak to three goalless games in which they’d conceded nine times, I was insisting my Owls can still be top-six contenders this season.

And after they failed to hang on to a 1-0 lead for the three necessary minutes against QPR at Hillsborough last week, I didn’t start to panic when looking at a league table which shows my side sitting in 20th place. The season is still young.

Many fans of a club with four points from seven games will tell you that things are majorly wrong, but I’m just not buying that at this stage for either Luton or Wednesday. They are neck and neck in a way few would have predicted six weeks ago when the season began.

But of the two, I think Luton are better placed to do something about that this weekend. While Rohl is still working out the finer points of his team’s game right now – largely the ‘How the hell can this lot not stick these chances away?’ type of finer points - Edwards will believe there is far more to come from his troops.

Even when beating Millwall 1-0 away from home he was quick to say that he didn’t like his team’s performance and there is plenty of room for improvement, and I think that kind of talk will inspire his players to take it up a level on Saturday.

Looking at Wednesday’s results under Rohl, there are not many times that they concede the first goal and come back into a game. Of the 19 occasions they’ve fallen behind first since the German took charge last October, they’ve got something out of the game only three times, and all of those were at Hillsborough.

So I can see Luton getting ahead and staying ahead. It could be 1-0, or it could be 4-0, as we have seen from Wednesday collapses aplenty over the last year, so backing Luton to keep a clean sheet is the safest way to go.

Football Odds

Over 11.5 total corners @ 6/5

How do you know a team is rubbish at converting corners if they never win any? You don’t.

So how do I know Sheffield Wednesday are rubbish at converting corners? Because they win loads, and do absolutely nothing with them.

Whether it’s Barry Bannan, Josh Windass, Svante Ingelsson or any other poor soul taking the flag-kicks, it feels like they’re at a coconut shy and the guy defending at the near post is the paddle they’re trying to skittle to the ground.

When they scored twice from Will Vaulks corners in the 2-2 comeback draw against Norwich City in April, it felt like the entire world had slipped off its axis. And Wednesday responded by failing to tie down the midfielder to a new deal, so he can now be found playing for Oxford United.

As a result, the Owls can be the league’s best team at winning corners – and they are, having won 43 in five games to sit alongside Middlesbrough at the top of that particular chart – but also pretty useless at making the most of the opportunity.

Luton don’t do too badly at winning corners either. They sit eighth on the ledger with six per game, so between them these are two sides who can harry opponents into giving up set-piece opportunities.

As such, I like the look of the overs on the total corners markets, and fancy stretching to the biggest on offer which is 11.5. Just don’t expect Wednesday to score from any of them.

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