Matchweek four kicks off with the first-ever Premier League meeting between Luton Town and West Ham United when the Hammers travel to Kenilworth Road to take on the Hatters in their first home game of the 2023/24 season. Football FanCast has everything you need to know about the fixture before the two sides go head-to-head this weekend.
Granted, with the home side never actually playing in the Premier League before, every game will be a 'first time' this season, but after their previous home tie against Burnley was postponed, this really will be their first home game in the top-flight since it became the Premier League over thirty years ago.
However, while the sides haven't met in the first tier since its rebranding in 1992, the clubs have met 63 times in their professional histories, dating back to an FA Cup third-round clash in 1935 that ended 2-2, with Luton coming away 4–0 winners in the replay.
While it's still probably too early to make any predictions based on the early form of the two sides, it's hard not to be impressed by the start West Ham have made in the league so far this year, as David Moyes' side have won two games and drawn one thus far.
The Hammers kicked off their campaign with a somewhat underwhelming 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth before beating cross-city rivals Chelsea 3-1 at the London Stadium – despite going a man down in the 67th minute – and, perhaps more impressive than anything else, they came away 2–1 winners from the game against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex.
Luton, on the other hand, have had a more challenging start to life in the top flight. Rob Edwards' side have only played two league games thus far due to their postponed home game against Burnley.
They lost their opening game 4-1 away to Brighton and then followed that up with another away defeat, this time to Chelsea, who beat them 3-0. The one glimmer of hope for the Premier League new boys came in their 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over Gillingham on Tuesday night (August 29th).
That said, there have been glimpses of excellence from the team, and the league has certainly thrown up more surprising upsets in the past, so it should still be a cracking game for both fans and neutrals.
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What's their head-to-head record?
Luton have only played Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City, QPR, Leicester City, and Sheffield Wednesday more than they have played West Ham, and with two league games to come this season, both Wednesday and Leicester will fall further down the list.
The Hatters and the Hammers have played against one another 63 times in their professional histories, and despite Luton's long absence from the first tier, the fixture is one that has been reasonably balanced throughout history, with the Bedfordshire outfit just edging it in terms of wins.
In total, they have emerged as the victors 22 times, to West Ham's 19, with draws a fairly common outcome in this game, occurring 22 times over the years.
Luton Town Wins
22
Draws
22
West Ham United Wins
19
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What's their record at Luton?
With the Hatters' slight edge in this fixture, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this is no different when it comes to their home games. In all, Luton have hosted the East Londoners 32 times over the years, with them claiming the spoils 14 times – or 43% of the time.
Draws have been the next most common outcome, with the points being shared 12 times, or 32%, whereas the Hammers have won just six games at Luton, a miserable win rate of 18%.
Luton Town Wins
14
Draws
12
West Ham United Wins
6
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What's their record at West Ham?
Unsurprisingly, it's West Ham that have the advantage when they have hosted Luton in East London. In all, the Hammers have played host 31 times over the years and emerged victorious 13 times, a win rate of 41% – ever so slightly worse than Luton's home record.
Draws are less common in the East End, with the points being shared just ten times or in 32% of cases. The Hatters have won just eight times when travelling to the capital, although their win rate of 25% is still better than West Ham's in Bedfordshire.
Luton Town Wins
8
Draws
10
West Ham United Wins
13
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What's their First Division record?
Due to Luton's relegation from the first tier at the end of the 1991/92 season and their resulting tumble down the footballing pyramid, the club have never played West Ham in the Premier League. Still, they have met plenty of times in the old First Division.
The sides have competed 22 times in the top flight over the years. Their first game against one another in the competition came in the 1958/59 season and resulted in a 4-1 home win for Luton, whereas the final meeting between the pair came in the 1991/92 season and saw West Ham come away with a 1-0 victory away from home.
It has been another close affair over the years, with the Hatters coming away with maximum points six times, the Irons eight times and points were shared relatively often, also happening eight times.
Luton Town Wins
6
Draws
8
West Ham United Wins
8
Luton Town vs West Ham United: Which team has the most goals?
Well, it's Luton Town that have scored the most goals in this fixture over the years, which probably shouldn't be a shock given their slight advantage in terms of overall wins. That said, the discrepancy between the number of goals scored by the sides is relatively low and helps to show how closely fought the battles between the teams have been.
In total, the Premier League new boys have scored 82 goals in 63 matches, giving them a fairly impressive ratio of 1.3 goals per game when coming up against their East London counterparts. For their part, West Ham have found the back of the net 73 times against Luton, giving them a goal return of 1.1 per game, which could be seen as somewhat underwhelming by some.
Interestingly, the Hatters are far more deadly when playing at home than West Ham, scoring 57 of their goals at Kenilworth Road, whereas the Hammers have scored just 38 goals in East London.
Luton Town Goals
82
West Ham United Goals
73
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What is Luton's biggest win?
Luton's biggest win against West Ham came all the way back in December 1951, courtesy of a Boxing Day fixture in the old Second Division – what we would now refer to as the Championship.
The game ended 6-1 to the hosts and was watched by a crowd of 19,476 fans, per Hatters Heritage. Luton's goals were shared between Bert Mitchell, Jack Taylor, Gordon Turner, and George Stobbart.
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What is West Ham's biggest win?
West Ham's biggest win against the Hatters came 30 years later in January 1991, when the Hammers ran riot against their opponents, putting five past them to win 5-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The goals for the Hammers were scored by Frank McAvennie, Ian Bishop, George Paris, and a brace from Trevor Morley. The result was something of a surprise as it was a replay following a 1-1 draw between the two teams just days beforehand.
Luton Town vs West Ham United: What are the recent results?
This game is challenging to predict for a number of reasons, one of which is that these two teams haven't actually met in a competitive fixture for almost three decades. However, the last time the sides played one another was July last year in a pre-season friendly at Kenilworth Road that ended in a 1-1 draw.
Before that, their last clash was an FA Cup Quarter Final Replay in March 1994 that Luton hosted and won 3-2 thanks to a fantastic hat-trick from Scott Oakes. Their most recent league game took place in April 1993 and saw the Hatters once again host and emerge victorious 2-0.
In fact, in their last five competitive meetings, Luton have won twice, drawn twice and lost only once, so Moyes and Co will be hoping to alter that pattern on Friday night.
Luton Town vs West Ham United: When is it?
Luton Town host West Ham United on Friday, 1st September, at 8pm British Summer Time. Whilst it may not be the most glamorous fixture of the weekend, with the likes of Arsenal hosting Manchester United on Sunday, it's one with some interesting history behind it and one that will mean a lot to both the fans and players of either team.
The Hammers will be looking to improve upon their already impressive start to the league this year with another win and create even more space between themselves and the relegation zone early in the season.
Edwards and Luton, on the other hand, will be hoping that Kenilworth Road can provide that extra something to get them over the line for the first time this campaign, as, despite results, they have looked bright here and there.
Overall, Luton vs West Ham should be an excellent game to get the Premier League back underway this weekend.