Luton v Burnley Tips: Foster to make his mark

• Luton suffering defensive injuries

• Bloated Burnley eager to start strong

• Foster fancied in front of goal

• Get a FREE bet every time your team scores a goal in August!

Luton v Burnley
Monday August 12, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports

Injuries biting for Luton

Luton were written-off as Premier League no-hopers 12 months ago, but the Hatters produced a creditable top-flight effort despite suffering relegation. Town now return to the Championship as a big fish having opted for long-term investment last summer, recruiting standout EFL stars and boasting a squad well-stocked with second-tier operators.

The Bedfordshire boys have retained almost all their key personnel bar Ross Barkley and boss Rob Edwards has made no secret of Luton's desire for an immediate bounce back, saying: "'I'll openly talk about that, I'll say that's our aim. What's the point in playing this down? I don't think our supporters would want to hear me playing it down, let's go for it."

However, Edwards' defensive options are limited coming into the campaign with Town still suffering a raft of injuries to their back-line. Amari'i Bell, Reece Burke and Mads Andersen are all missing, as well as Japanese international Daiki Hashioka. Teden Mengi and Tom Holmes are available and 18-year-old Joe Johnson could also be in-line for a start.

Burnley keen to start strong

Burnley dominated the Championship from start to finish the last time the Clarets dropped into the second-tier and the Lancashire club certainly boast the quality to produce something similar in 2024/25. However, new head coach Scott Parker has taken over a bloated squad and is unlikely to preside over the same swashbuckling style.

Parker's conservative nature and tight-margin football is reliant upon key individuals coming to the fore. The two-time promotion winner will be without Aaron Ramsey, Mike Tresor and Nathan Redmond through injury for the Monday night trip, though both Luca Koloesho and Zeki Amdouni are in contention to start despite lingering fitness concerns over both.

Burnley can call upon an impressive starting XI with Dara O'Shea, Josh Cullen, Josh Brownhill and Lyle Foster likely to form the spine of the side with Parker eager to change the culture and mentality around Turf Moor after the Clarets bagged just five Premier League wins during a forgettable top-flight campaign last time out.

Clarets boast strong h2h record

Luton haven't enjoyed league meetings with Burnley and the Hatters come into this clash winless in eight head-to-head encounters (W0-D4-L4). Surprisingly, Town have also suffered four straight home defeats when hosting the Clarets, a run that started back in 2005.

Luton 2.526/4 returned W3-D3-L4 at Kenilworth Road against teams in 10^th and below last term, though that sample included defeats against fellow scrappers Burnley and Sheffield United. With the Hatters still enduring a number of defensive injury issues coming into the campaign, I'm happy to leave Town alone for now.

Burnley 3.052/1 are unbeaten in their six Championship openers (W3-D3-L0). The Clarets posted W13-D8-L2 on their travels during their 101-point title-winning season in 2022/23, before unsurprisingly struggling on the road in the EPL. Nevertheless, Burnley did boast a reasonable W3-D5-L6 effort on their travels when excluding last term's top-five.

Foster fancied to make a mark

I'm expecting a relatively open and interesting curtain-raiser with opportunities for each side. Burnley centre-forward Lyle Foster therefore looks a generous price at [8/11] to land a shot on-target - the South African international will spearhead the Clarets attack and showed plenty of promise during a disrupted Premier League campaign.

In half of Foster's 22 EPL outings, the all-action forward managed multiple efforts - repeating that feat in both meetings with Luton, scoring here in October 2023. With Town fielding a patched-up rearguard, I'm eager to support Lyle Foster To Have 1 Or More Shots On Target alongside Under 4.5 Goals at [1.94] via the Bet Builder.

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