Luton Town and Birmingham City played out a goalless draw at the Kenilworth Road Stadium in the first matchday of the 2022-23 EFL Championship season. Both teams had very few chances to score goals in the match.
Luton Town set themselves up in a 3-5-2 formation. Ethan Horvath guarded the sticks and in front of him was a back-three of Gabriel Osho, skipper Sonny Bradley and Daniel Potts. The midfield trio was made up of Allan Campbell, Luke Freeman and Jordan Clark. Flanking the midfield were the wing-backs, James Bree and Amari’i Bell, on the right wing and left wing, respectively. The two strikers upfront were debutant Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo. Birmingham City opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation in this match. John Ruddy was the goalkeeper, and he was shielded by a back-three of Dion Sanderson, Marc Roberts and Auston Trusty. Ryan Woods and Jordan James were the double pivots in midfield, and they were supported by the wing-backs; Maxime Colin on the right and Przemyslaw Placheta on the left, the latter making his debut for the team. Juninho Bacuna occupied the space between midfield and attack. He was backed by the striker pair of Scott Hogan and captain Troy Deeney.
Luton had slightly more possession at 53%. They outshot the visitors 14-12 and registered four of them on target compared to Birmingham’s three. However, they also had twice as many shots blocked as the visitors. The Hatters had three corners more than the Blues but were also adjudged offside more times. Birmingham committed twice as many fouls as Luton, and their three players got booked, whereas no Luton man received a yellow card in this game. The Hatters missed the only big chance that came by in the match. They attempted more shots from inside the box than from outside of it. The Birmingham keeper, Ruddy, made four saves in this match.
Luton completed 72% of their passes in this match as they attempted 340 passes to Birmingham’s 308. They could complete only 10% of their crosses whereas Birmingham completed 21%. The Hatters made one more dribble than the visitors but did so at a slightly lesser successful rate of 50%. They also lost possession more times (171) than Birmingham City (161). The Blues won more duels, made more tackles, completed more interceptions and cleared the ball more than the hosts in this match.
A goalless draw would not have been the start that both Luton Town and Birmingham City would have wanted. Looking for their first win of the season, Luton will travel to Burnley on 6th August, and Birmingham will also look to win their first match of the season when they host Huddersfield Town on 5th August.
Visuals by Wyscout
