Luton Town host Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night as two of the division's most inconsistent teams meet at Kenilworth Road.
Luton inflicted a second home defeat in four days upon Sheffield Wednesday over the weekend, while Lyle Taylor rescued a point for Nottingham Forest with his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw with Derby County at the City Ground.
Match preview
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Nathan Jones and his Luton side will be pleased with their ability to overcome a determined Sheffield Wednesday team on the weekend, albeit having a man advantage for the last 20 minutes.
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu came up with the winner three minutes after Joost Van Aken was dismissed for a high challenge on the scorer, giving Luton their fourth win of the season and moving their points tally to 12 from seven games.
Jones will be aware that his side have struggled to string a run of results together so far this season and will be looking to right those wrongs in the coming weeks.
The Hatters face Forest at home, before welcoming free-scoring Brentford to Kenilworth Road. They then travel to Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town, both of whom will be looking to make up ground on teams such as Luton.
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Though Forest are not yet fulfilling their potential, it is plain to see that Hughton has made this side harder to beat, proved by the fact they have not lost since he replaced Sabri Lamouchi.
Two draws and a win represents a good start for Hughton, but he will be looking to kick on. After facing Luton and then travelling to Middlesbrough, he will be eyeing good results against Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers; two sides who have also had torrid starts to the season.
Hughton will have also been pleased to see the club keep hold of Lewis Grabban, who was rumoured to be on his way out of the City Ground before the deadline passed, while also being able to strengthen his squad through the experienced Anthony Knockaert.
Both players will be key to Forest's campaign, supported by the ever present Sammy Ameobi and in-form Lyle Taylor.
Luton Town Championship form: WLWLLW
Luton Town form (all competitions): LLWLLW
Nottingham Forest Championship form: LLLWDD
Team News
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Nathan Jones was able to hand a first start to the impressive Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the weekend and he looks set to keep his spot in the middle of the park.
Kazenga Lua-Lua also looked bright after coming on against Wednesday and could be pushing for a start at the expense of either Joe Morrell or Elliot Lee.
Hughton changed his formation to 4-4-2 on the weekend, which saw Lyle Taylor partner Grabban in a front two, but the ex-Brighton manager could revert to 4-2-3-1 and opt to give Knockaert his first start for Forest.
Aside from any formation changes, Hughton looks set to name the same side that are yet to lose since his arrival.
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Sluga; Cranie, Pearson, Bradley, Norrington-Davies; Dewsbury-Hall, Morrell, Mpanzu; Clark, Hylton, LuaLua
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Christie, McKenna, Figueiredo, Ioannou; Yates, Colback; Knockaert, Lolley, Ameobi; Grabban
We say: Luton Town 1-1 Nottingham Forest
Under Hughton, Forest are just starting to show glimpses of their former selves, and we are backing them to continue moving in the right direction. Luton will offer tough opposition though, and this fixture will likely end honours even.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home/Away:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Nottingham Forest win with a probability of 39.92%. A win for Luton Town had a probability of 33.44% and a draw had a probability of 26.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nottingham Forest win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.5%) and 0-2 (7.05%). The likeliest Luton Town win was 1-0 (9.44%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.66%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.7% likelihood.
