Meet the opposition | Luton Town
As Swansea City prepare to host Luton Town, we take a closer look at the Hatters.
What's their story?
Luton achieved a second successive promotion in 2018-2019, ending a 12-year absence from the Championship. They were among the relegation battlers for much of last season, but their fortunes were revived by the return of Nathan Jones and they eventually finished three points clear of the bottom three with 51 points.
Luton were in the top-flight as recently as the early 90s, but slid down the divisions and briefly lost their Football League status before beginning their revival.
How's their form?
At the time of writing Luton are sitting in mid-table in the Championship, but ended a run of four games without a win by beating leaders Norwich in midweek.
The Hatters had drawn three matches in a row against Birmingham, Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield, before losing 4-0 to Cardiff City last weekend.
They have endured mixed fortunes on their travels; in their last six away games, the Hatters had taken seven points from a possible 18.
Who's the boss?
Nathan Jones. Welshman Jones returned for a second spell as manager of the Hatters back in May and guided them to Championship survival.
Jones had a spell as a player at Luton in the mid-1990s in a career that took in stints with Numancia, Southend, Brighton and Yeovil among others.
He got his managerial break with the Hatters and led them to promotion from League Two in his second season, and had them on course for another promotion when he left for Stoke in January 2019.
Who's the captain?
Centre-back Bradley, 29, joined Luton in 2018 after an impressive spell at Plymouth.
Having come through the ranks at Hull, Bradley had loan stints with Harrogate, IK Frej and Aldershot, before making permanent moves to Portsmouth and Crawley.
The switch to Plymouth followed in 2016 – where he was named in the EFL League Two team of the season – and his fine form attracted the interest of the Hatters in 2018, and he went on help them win promotion to the Championship in his first season.
Who are the key men?
Powerful striker James Collins has six goals to his name so far this campaign, with three of those coming in a 3-1 win Norwich City in the Carabao Cup.
Left-back Rhys Norrington-Davies has three assists this season, and is in double figures for chances created. The Welshman is on loan from Premier League side Sheffield United and was called up to the Wales squad for the first time in September 2020.
Keeper Simon Sluga is highly-regarded, as are midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and lively forward Harry Cornick.
