Two sides with plenty left to play for in the Championship go face-to-face at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday as Swansea City host Luton Town.

Swansea are just one point off the playoffs with eight games to go, while Luton are within five points of safety heading into the final straight.

Match preview

Swansea City's Rhian Brewster celebrates after scoring their first goal on February 1, 2020 © Reuters

The Swans laid down a real marker in their first game back following the three-month layoff by cruising to a 3-0 win over Middlesbrough, a result that cost opposition boss Jonathan Woodgate his job.

Liverpool loanee Rhian Brewster scored twice in the space of three minutes and Andre Ayew added a penalty before half time as Swansea made it five points from the last nine on offer.

Steve Cooper's side have lost just one of their last seven league matches, but four of those have ended in draws, meaning that there is still a three-place gap on the top six.

While the Welsh outfit are looking up at the sides above them, the same is even more true of Luton, who are rock bottom of the division.

After replacing Graeme Jones with Nathan Jones during lockdown, the Hatters know that they are fast running out of time to pick up wins.

Saturday's 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing Preston North End is a good result on the face of it, especially having trailed until the 87th minute, but there is still a five-point margin on Middlesbrough in 21st.

Luton's Martin Cranie celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates on February 25, 2020 © Reuters

That was Town's third draw in a row, after they also held Stoke City and Wigan Athletic before the hiatus, and Jones will be looking to take the positives from those performances.

It has been a tough campaign for Luton on their travels, though, taking just four points from their last 14 away Championship matches.

Swansea, by comparison, have lost only one of their last nine home Championship games (W4 D4) - a 3-2 defeat to Derby County in February.

The Swans also boast an impressive record against Saturday's opponents, winning their last three league meetings without conceding a single goal.

Indeed, Luton have won just one of their last 13 away league visits to Swansea, although their most recent encounter at the Liberty Stadium came in February 2008.

Swansea's Championship form: DWLDDW

Luton's Championship form: WLWDDD

Team News

Rhian Brewster in action for Swansea City on January 12, 2020 © Reuters

Central defender Mike van der Hoorn is still recovering from injury for Swansea and will sit out this match.

Cooper otherwise has a fully-fit squad to choose from, but changes are expected to be kept to a minimum.

George Byers is one possible option to return to the starting lineup in place of Jay Fulton, while Aldo Kalulu is another pushing for inclusion after a substitute appearance against Middlesbrough.

As for Luton, Callum McManaman scored their late leveller against Preston and may therefore have done enough to warrant inclusion from the off against Swansea.

Right-back James Bree also impressed from the bench last time out and may come in for Martin Cranie here.

Elsewhere, Eunan O'Kane and Brendan Galloway are confirmed absentees for the visitors.

Swansea possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Naughton, Cabango, Wilmot, Bidwell; Byers, Grimes; Kalulu, Gallagher, Ayew; Brewster

Luton possible starting lineup:
Sluga; Bree, Carter-Vickers, Pearson, Potts; Rea, Mpanzu, Tunnicliffe; McManaman; Cornick, Collins

We say: Swansea 2-1 Luton

Jones has lost none of his last 13 league matches in charge of Luton and has already beaten Swansea away once this season with Stoke in October. However, Town have won just one of their last five games and are bottom of the table for a reason, so we are going for a home win on Saturday.

Data 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 Swansea City win with a probability of 60.88%. A draw had a probability of 22.1% and a win for Luton Town had a probability of 16.99%.

The most likely scoreline for a Swansea City win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.3%) and 2-1 (9.82%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.52%), while for a Luton Town win it was 0-1 (5.64%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood.