Luton Town vs Peterborough United

Luton Town will play host to newly-promoted Peterborough United at Kenilworth Road in their 2021/22 Championship curtain-raiser.

Luton Town will be looking to build on a 12th-place finish in the 2020/21 Championship season, which also marked their highest points tally in the second tier since 1981/82. Since returning to the Football League in 2014/15, the ‘Hatters’ have suffered just one defeat in seven opening league matches (W4, D2), notably averaging 2.33 scored per game in the process. Against this backdrop, entertainment was relatively sparse at Kenilworth Road last season, with 69.57% of Luton’s Championship fixtures here featuring under 2.5 total goals. By contrast, the hosts have avoided defeat in their previous three league H2Hs as hosts (W2, D1), with two of those encounters producing 3+ total strikes. Adding to Luton’s confidence, Nathan Jones’ men stayed unbeaten in 88.89% of the home league games they entered as favorites last season.

On the other hand, Peterborough United earned Championship promotion as League One runners-up last term, returning to the second tier for the first time since 2012/13. After concluding the 2020/21 season with a four-game unbeaten league run (W2, D2), the visitors have been busy reinforcing their squad in the summer, adding several exciting players. Albeit against third-tier opposition, Darren Ferguson’s men didn’t lose any of the 12 away league matches in which they opened the scoring last term (W9, D3). Moreover, they finished the 2020/21 campaign in high spirits, picking up four straight victories to sign off for the season. Notably, Peterborough conceded a league-low six first-half goals throughout the last League One season.