PREVIEW | Derby County vs Luton Town - team news, lineups, predictions

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·16. April 2025

PREVIEW | Derby County vs Luton Town - team news, lineups, predictions

Derby County host Luton Town this Friday at Pride Park Stadium in Matchday 43 of the EFL Championship. The match will be broadcast live at 12:30 on Sky Sports Football.

The Rams are currently in the drop zone in 21st position with 43 points. Last time out, John Eustace's team drew 2-2 against Portsmouth to post another valuable point on the board.

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Luton, meanwhile, are two points and two places behind the Rams with 40 points to their name this season. It's a huge game for all concerned and Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield will hope his team can bounce back after their 0-1 reverse to Blackburn Rovers.

The last meeting between the two teams went Luton's way - the Hatters winning 2-1 earlier in the campaign.

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Cory Hancock (Rams Review Podcast): The games don’t get much bigger than this in the Championship. The fight for survival is entering the final few matches and the bottom five are only separated by four points. For Derby and for Luton, this is a massive game.

Derby starts outside the relegation zone by a point having shared the points with Pompey at the weekend. Derby’s hot streak has cooled recently with a loss and two draws in their past three. However, they control their own destiny to stay in the division. The point against Pompey might ultimately prove to be crucial in the context of the season but The Rams left the South Coast feeling frustrated, having led twice in the match.

Luton have had a very poor season and will themselves be hoping to snatch something to get them above the relegation line by the full-time whistle. The last match between these two is one that got away from The Rams. They conceded two very late goals to throw away a crucial away victory against a relegation rival, the team will be focused on ensuring that does not happen again. Both teams have new coaches in the dugout, but the stakes remain high.

This will be a very edgy game, with a lot at stake for both sides. However, the Rams defensively solidarity should give them a nice springboard to build from and if they show the attacking verve, they did at the weekend hopefully they can nick a goal (or two) and more importantly snatch a much needed three points.

Prediction: 1-0

Stephen Gillett (Playmaker Stats on Luton): With four games to go, the relegation picture is still blurry with arguably eight teams still in the much at the moment. It's approaching now-or-never time for those currently in the bottom three, though, if they are to pick up enough points to escape the drop. Given that Derby are down there with the Hatters this is an absolutely massive clash for both teams and the Rams have definitely picked up under John Eustace.

Both of these sides have been dangerous from set-pieces this season (Derby in fact lead the league with 19 goals from free-kicks, corners and throw-ins) and a game like this could well boil down to fine margins like who executes best from dead-balls. Both teams need a win so badly...that we'll back a draw!