Almost four months to the day since earning their first-ever Premier League win with a 2-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park, recent history repeated itself for both clubs in Saturday’s Merseyside meeting, allowing Rob Edwards’s men to dream of a Wembley sojourn for a little while longer.
After the unfortunate Vitaliy Mykolenko turned into his own net to open the scoring, Luton’s stand-in goalkeeper Tim Krul allowed Jack Harrison’s strike to squirm under his body for the hosts’ equaliser, but Cauley Woodrow was the Dutchman’s saviour with the pivotal strike six minutes into second-half injury time.
As well as representing a second successive 2-1 win over Everton at their Goodison Park base, Saturday’s memorable triumph also saw Luton make it back-to-back away victories by that scoreline in all tournaments, having also seen off Bolton Wanderers in January 16’s FA Cup clash after coming away from Burnley’s headquarters with a 1-1 draw.
With temperatures dropping over the winter period, Luton have stoked the fire to go four games unbeaten across all competitions, while losing just one of their last seven matches since December 23, and the Hatters only have a one-point disadvantage to make up to 17th-placed Everton having played a game fewer.
The Toffees’ failure to beat Fulham this week would therefore open the door for Edwards’s men to escape the demotion trapdoor, and while three of their last four Premier League home games have ended in defeat, there was little shame in suffering narrow losses to Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Since their Premier League inauguration, Luton have not been beaten by more than one goal in a top-flight fixture at Kenilworth Road and have only failed to make the net bulge against Tottenham Hotspur, but Brighton warmed up for their taxing Hatters test in perfect fashion at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane.
Newly-signed Blades goalkeeper Ivo Grbic experienced a true baptism of fire in between the sticks, being beaten three times by Joao Pedro – twice from the penalty spot – while Facundo Buonanotte and Danny Welbeck also found the mark either side of Pedro’s heroic hat-trick.
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There were shades of Brighton’s third-round affair with Stoke City – which ended 4-2 to the Seagulls – in their pummelling of Sheffield United, but offensive consistency is still eluding De Zerbi’s side, who have drawn blanks against West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening Premier League fixtures of 2024.
In spite of the fact that only three of Brighton’s last 15 top-flight games have seen the Seagulls prevail, De Zerbi’s side remain in the mix for back-to-back continental qualifications, occupying seventh place in the Premier League table with just a three-point gap separating them from West Ham in sixth.
Drawing 0-0 with West Ham on January 2 at least saw Brighton register their first away clean sheet of the Premier League season, and the Seagulls made light work of Luton in the first weekend of the new term, subjecting them to a harsh welcome to life in the big time with a 4-1 Amex annihilation.
