Hull City must stand up to the Luton Town fight in bid to win the war

Luton Town may have endured a nightmare start to the Championship season, and boss Rob Edwards may be fighting to save his job, but Hull City can still expect one of their toughest assignments yet on Saturday afternoon.

City will head to Kenilworth Road looking for a first win against the Hatters in five attempts, having lost five of the last six against the Bedfordshire side, and more importantly, end a run of four defeats and three draws in their last seven since beating Cardiff City at the beginning of October.

Town, who were famously promoted at Wembley after beating Coventry City on penalties in the 2023 play-off final, are back in the second tier after one solitary campaign in the Premier League, but have so far failed to live up to the tag of promotion favourites before a ball was kicked.

READ MORE: Hull City sink into Championship relegation zone after latest defeat

READ MORE: Hull City drop zone message as Tim Walter finds positive despite Luton defeat

Eight defeats later, Luton are two places below City at the wrong end of the Championship table and like Saturday's opponents, are only outside the bottom three on goal difference. Not where anyone expected either to be at the outset of the campaign.

Their form at Kenilworth Road is the one relative shining light of an otherwise miserable start - three wins and defeats with two draws is their record so far, but their 5-1 thumping at Middlesbrough before the break will go one of two ways when Saturday's game gets going.

Either there will be a major response and two weeks' frustrations come flooding out, or there remains a hangover and Tim Walter's Tigers can exploit that sense of angst and nervousness, and give themselves a welcome boost after a poor run, which has left the German, like Edwards, under mounting pressure.

If there is to be a loser on Saturday, then the pressure on that respective individual will only be cranked up, though, in truth, some will be surprised that there hasn't been a change in management at either club during the notoriously perilous November break.

Though City have gone to Elland Road, Carrow Road and others so far, and hosted the likes of Sheffield United and Burnley, Saturday's contest feels like their biggest yet given the circumstances surrounding the game, and that it should come against one of the teams at the bottom of the table, effectively one of their rivals as we stand now.

There must surely be a reaction from the hosts to what happened on Teesside, and that will likely come in the form of a quick, direct start. Lots of balls into the box, a strong, direct approach and the use of set-plays absolutely crucial to the hosts in the tight confines of Kenilworth Road.

City know what's coming. Ivor Pandur said the players had been preparing all week for the aerial bombardment that will come their way on Saturday, but it's one thing knowing about it, and preparing for it, and then it's another actually being able to deal with it and then thrive off it.

Walter's men will have to show a side we've not seen that often given the types of games we've seen thus far, a willingness to throw bodies on the line, block crosses, shots and deal with throw-ins lobbed into their area from 40 yards out, basically, be prepared for a scrap. If they can do that, Luton's own defensive issues - 26 goals conceded so far - suggests there will be plenty of opportunities to create, and find that ruthless edge which has been lacking in all but three games this season thus far.

As difficult as this may look for the reasons outlined above, victory could well be seismic for the Tigers, and for Walter, especially ahead of a vitally important Yorkshire derby on Tuesday night against Sheffield Wednesday.