By Chris
So here comes the big one... Notts County travel to Luton Town on Saturday as first takes on second in League Two.
How should the Magpies approach this game? What are their opponents' strengths and weaknesses?
PON's Chris has a look in this weekend's Scouting Report.
Head to head
Notts County and Luton Town have faced off 70 times in their history.
The first meeting came in January 1912 when the Magpies secured a 4-2 away win in the FA Cup.
Luton dominate the head-to-head with 35 wins over Notts, 20 draws and 15 defeats.
Out of the 11 matches between the two that have taken place since the turn of the century, Notts have won four, drawn four and lost four.
Run-down of their last six features
Saturday 21st October – Crawley Town 0 Luton Town 0
Saturday 28th October – Luton Town 0 Coventry City 3
Saturday 11th November – Cheltenham Town 2 Luton Town 2
Saturday 18th November – Luton Town 7 Cambridge United 0
Tuesday 21st November – Luton Town 3 Carlisle United 0
Saturday 25th November – Crewe Alexandra 1 Luton Town 2
The Players – Fact Sheet
Highest Goal Scorers: Danny Hylton 13, James Collins 9, Dan Potts 6 and Elliot Lee 6.
Persistent Foulers: Dan Potts 7 yellow cards, Alan Sheehan 6 yellow cards, Danny Hylton 4 yellow cards and Scott Cuthbert 2 yellow cards and a single red card.
The Key Players
At the back Dan Potts leads with example, he’s a very capable defender and likes to get forward as much as possible.
His ability to strike the ball and contribute to attacking play is equally as effect as his leadership at the back.
Meanwhile, in midfield, duo Olly Lee and Jack Stacey are the creative outlets for Luton Town.
They enjoy breaking down teams with clever passing, whilst showcasing an array of different types of passing in order to maximise their attacks.
Upfront they are blessed with several options on goal, however the prolific Danny Hylton suits their style of play well and likes to cause as much problems for the oppositions defence.
Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses
Luton Town as can be expected are a well organised team, both at the back and going forward.
They like to use the flanks as their main outlet for breaking down teams, using a mix of low and high pass in order to get into key areas.
In the air they’re naturally very impressive and deliver inch perfect crosses from a wide range of areas that results in chances being created.
They commit players going forward, however the shape they often play means they have cover throughout the field of play.
Despite being a very attacking minded team, they don’t pressure sides by maintaining the ball and do like to invite play onto themselves – however this is something that they tend to use to counter.
When they’re playing well, Luton are a very difficult team to break down and they are comfortable playing the ball on the ground and defending it within the air.
Position-wise they don’t tend to leave much space, and cover areas which other teams often tend to forget about when being so heavily focused on attacking play – however, Luton do tend to allow teams to shoot from distance.
When they feel comfortable they do allow teams to pass, and their focus can temporarily be lacking but usually only for brief breaks.
When they don’t have a grip of the game, play is more open and teams with pace often find this to be the best method of attacking.
Likewise, being patient in possession and moving the ball around nicely is something which they tend to worry less about – which can be a mistake on their part.
Notts will have to be fully alert to the dangerous capabilities that Luton Town presents.
In the air they’ll have to show no fear, whilst on the ground we really do need to be quick at covering the ball and attempting to win it back.
Going forward, Notts will naturally need to make use of set pieces – whilst switching the areas in which they attack would be something that might catch their defence napping.
We really will be required to be strong on the ball, whilst creative and smart within our play going forward.
There will be little chance for mistakes, so we need to focus on playing them at their own game and forcing them to repeatedly attempt to figure out how best to break us down.
I think both teams will cancel each other out, for us it’s just a case of being alert at the back and taking whatever chances we may get on goal.
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