Middlesbrough continued their impressive start to the season on home soil, with a comfortable 3-0 victory against a struggling Millwall side. However, Boro have lost four of their last seven games, following their 11-game unbeaten run prior to their recent dip. 

The visitors come into Wednesday's game brimming with confidence after a convincing victory over Preston North End on Saturday. However, Luton Town have struggled on the road lately and are four games without a win on their travels.

Team news

Grant Hall remains unavailable for Wednesday whilst Duncan Watmore and Chuba Akpom could be rested, with Patrick Roberts and Britt Assombalonga their potential replacements. 

Marcus Browne may also miss Luton's visit, whilst Hayden Coulson will also be pushing for a start. 

The Hatters may be boosted by the return of Croatian international Simon Sluga, but his replacement James Shea has kept two consecutive clean sheets and will not moved that easy. 

Danny Hylton is also expected to miss the trip to Teeside, as well as long term absentee Eunan O'Kane. 

Predicted lineups

Middlesbrough:

Bettinelli; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair, Bola; Howson, Saville, Morsy, Johnson, Roberts; Assombalonga.

Luton:

Shea; Pearson, Lockyer, Bradley, Potts; Rea, Mpanzu, Desbury-Hall; Cornick, Collins, Moncur.

Ones to watch 

For the hosts, Marvin Johnson has been a real danger thus far. He has scored four and assisted a further three in his 17 appearances and has contribute five goals in his last nine. The winger will look to attack Luton's full-back every time he has the ball and possesses the quality to do so and create in the final third. 

For Luton, James Collins will be a confident many going into Wednesday. He took his hat-trick brilliantly against Preston on Saturday and despite his goals, showed than he can contribute in the build up play. He is a difficult man to get off the ball and is a clever individual who will hold up the ball and win fouls high up the pitch. 

Previous meetings

The pair last faced in mid-February when a sole Ryan Tunnicliffe stole the three points for The Hatters at the Riverside Stadium. A goal and a win that ended 12 straight defeats for the Town away from home and was a very welcomed score-line for those travelling Luton fans. 

The reverse fixture opened up the 2019/20 Championship campaign, in an excellent 3-3 draw. Lewis Wing thought the had won the game for the visitors with an excellent strike in the 68th minute, but a late Collins equaliser earned The Hatters their first Championship point in over a decade. 

Kick off time and how to watch

The game kicks off at 8:00pm BST and will be shown on Sky Sports Football. 

Manager's thoughts

Luton boss Nathan Jones was pleased with last week's performances and subsequent results and told the club website:

“We had to make sure that we did all the basics right, we wanted to play with aggression because we were at home and we went midweek to make sure that one we didn't get beat and two to really have a right go at the weekend and that’s what we did.

“Overall it topped off a good week and we knew we had to be at it as I’m a big admirer of Preston, they do things very well, I always describe them as they know what they’re doing at Championship level.”

 

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