Bristol City Vs Luton Town Betting: Over 2.5 Goals/BTTS – 29 December 2019

Goals expected as two porous defences collide?

Harry Cornick / Luton Town ©imago images / PRiME Media Images 29.12.2019

Bristol City Vs Luton Town

Sunday 29th December 2019 – 15:00 Kick-Off
English Championship
Pick: Over 2.5 Goals & Both Teams to Score
Odds: 10/11
Bookmaker: Bet365
EFL Championship Betting at 22Bet

(All betting odds displayed were correct at the time of writing: 28th December 2019 at 00:30)

Preview: Two teams in urgent need of a win meet at Ashton Gate as Bristol City, on a run of four straight league defeats, host a Luton team which has lost its past seven away Championship matches.

Bristol City Vs Luton Town Live Stats & Betting Odds

 

Bristol City Preview – Victory imperative for free-falling Robins?

The month of December has not been pretty for Bristol City (10th – W9 D8 L7, GF36 GA36). Prior to this they had only suffered the three defeats all season, with two of those a lot easier to excuse having come against the current top-two who are miles ahead of the rest. Losing away to Charlton Athletic on Thursday will not be so easy to downplay, succumbing to a side that was without a win in eleven before kick-off.

Manager Lee Johnson now has a tough task on his hands galvanising a dispirited group for a fixture that probably would have looked like a routine win in waiting only a month or so ago. Not any longer. Defeat at Charlton on Boxing Day made it four in a row for The Robins, to go with disappointing scorelines incurred against Millwall (1-2), Blackburn (0-2) and Sheffield Wednesday (1-0).

Ashton Gate might not offer them much respite either. Bristol City have recorded more wins on their travels this season than in front of a home support, even if that particular statistic is marginal (4 wins at home compared with 5 away). What is more clear, however, is that this team has managed only one victory from their previous five home fixtures (W1 D2 L2) – that a 5-2 hammering of struggling Huddersfield Town – and are desperately striving to avoid a third consecutive home defeat this weekend.

Total Goals Over 3.5
6/4

Bet365

 

Luton Town Preview – Hapless Hatters unbackable on the road?

Points are precious this season for Luton Town (22nd – W6 D3 L15, GF31 GA50). The club were promoted as League One champions at the end of 2018-19 but have fared the worst out of the promoted trio so far, sitting third from bottom in the EFL Championship standings after averaging less than a point per game from their opening 24 matches. Yet goal difference is currently all that is keeping them from occupying safe ground, suggesting a survival bid remains very much a possibility.

The latter might be what has contributed to some improved efforts of late, even if the rewards haven’t been quite so tangible. Recent defeats to Preston (2-1) and Swansea (0-1) were extremely harsh on them, conceding late winners inside the final ten minutes in both encounters. Neither, however, were as late as when Fulham cruelly struck on Boxing Day, as Luton saw two potentially huge points slip through their gasp following Bobby Reid’s equalising goal in a 3-3 draw at Kenilworth Road.

On the plus side for manager Graeme Jones, his team would secure a first point for four games having lost three on the bounce beforehand. On top of that, three goals were scored for only the fourth occasion all season long. The downside will naturally be the psychological impact conceding so late will have on a group who were already in dire form and must now travel for their next engagement: no team in English’s second tier have lost more away games in 2019/20 than Luton (10), who have lost the last seven on the bounce.

 

Bristol City Vs Luton Town – Key Facts:

  • Bristol City are on their worst run of results of the season, losing each of their past four league games.
  • Luton have only avoided defeat twice in twelve away outings so far, losing each of the previous seven.
  • The first meeting of the season, at Luton, finished 3-0 to the home side back in October.

 

Betting Summary

Few fixtures are more ripe for the picking than this for Bristol City (8/11 Betway), eager no doubt to knock a four-game losing run on the head and reignite their push for the play-offs. Luton (19/5 Unibet) have displayed enough battling qualities in recent games to suggest they could make this at least interesting, however, and did crucially win the reverse encounter 3-0 at home. Ultimately, though, their form away from home is atrocious having lost ten of twelve such games thus far, including each of the previous seven. That makes any bet on the visitors hopeful at best.

Conceding late last time out was a sucker-punch for Luton but the pleasing aspect for manager Lee Johnson was the sight of his team going toe-to-toe with one of the division’s better teams and scoring three times. That should have instilled in them the belief they can go to Ashton Gate and ask questions of a host enduring a torrid spell and who haven’t shut any of their previous seven opponents out. Bristol City & Both Teams to Score holds significant appeal at 21/10 with WilliamHill.