Luton Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers are two of the country's oldest professional football teams, with histories dating back to the late 1800s, and they have been facing off against one another ever since their first encounter in January 1932 – an FA Cup tie Wolves won 2-1.
With that in mind, we here at Football FanCast have everything you need to know before the two teams meet in the Premier League for the very first time.
It might still be early on in the season, but with games under their belts – five for Luton and six for Wolves – we can start to assess their form in this early part of the season and just how they might fair in this upcoming clash.
For Luton, the return to top flight football has been a tough one, and to say that their season has started poorly might be a bit of an understatement. They find themselves rock bottom of the Premier League table at the moment, and while they have played one game less than most of the league, we aren't too sure that an extra game would change their fortunes too much, given their performances thus far.
To give them credit, they only lost by a single goal when playing against West Ham United and Fulham. Plus, they are through to the third round of the EFL Cup thanks to their 3-2 win over Gillingham. So, it's not all bad for the Hatters, and maybe this game will be the turning point.
For the visitors, it's been an interesting start to the season, as despite looking brilliant for their entire game against Manchester United and for at least half of their game against Liverpool, they find themselves down in 16th, with just a single win – against Everton – and once again looking down rather than up.
The story of their season so far – as it was last year – is one of missed chances as despite being perilously close to the relegation zone, the Premier League have the Old Gold down as the seventh most frequent creators of 'big chances' so far this season.
With both sides needing to turn their fortunes around, this encounter promises to be an entertaining one.
Luton Town vs Wolves: What's their head-to-head record?
With the first meeting between these two sides coming back in 1932 – 91 years ago – you'd be forgiven for thinking that they must've racked up at least 60-odd meetings by now, but that is not the case. In all, Luton and Wolves have played one another just 33 times in all competitions, which works out to just 0.3 meetings a year since 1932.
The lack of games is due to the sides spending extended periods in different divisions. For example, the 23-year gap between their first and second encounter is due to Luton playing in the lower league while Wolves were in the First Division. This was reversed during the 1980s.
When they have played one another, it has usually been a tightly contested affair, resulting in the overall record being almost perfectly balanced, with Wolves only just coming out on top thanks to their 14 wins compared to Luton's 13.
Will the Hatters be able to balance the books this weekend?
Luton Town Wins
13
Draws
6
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wins
14
Luton Town vs Wolves: What's their First Division record?
While a good chunk of games in this fixture have been played in the top flight, like with every other Luton game this season, this will be the first encounter between the sides in Premier League history.
That said, the Hatters were a regular fixture in the old First Division, and when they went toe-to-toe with the Old Gold, the results broadly mirrored the fixture's overall record – who'd have thought.
This time, however, it's the Bedfordshire side that just about edge it in terms of wins, picking up maximum points seven times to Wolves' six.
Interestingly, there has only ever been one draw between the two teams in the top flight – a 1-1 draw at Molineux in January 1958.
Luton Town Wins
7
Draws
1
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wins
6
Luton Town vs Wolves: What's their Second Division record?
The majority of this fixture's most recent encounters have taken place in the Championship – four out of the previous five, to be exact.
The games may have been taking place at a lower level, but the pattern of closely fought games remained, with Wolves slightly ahead in the second tier.
The Old Gold have emerged victorious six times from the 14 games played in the Championship/Second Division, while Luton would win just four.
Luton Town Wins
4
Draws
4
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wins
6
Luton Town vs Wolves: What's their record at Luton?
You might have thought that with such a balanced fixture, both teams would have had brilliant home form and poor away form – as is the case with most fixtures in football – but, again, that's just not the case.
Instead, the trend continues when Luton are playing host. In the 17 games played at Kenilworth Road, both teams have emerged with seven wins a piece, drawing the remaining three.
Even the number of goals scored is bizarrely close, with the home side finding the back of the net 31 times and the visitors 29 times.
Luton Town Wins
7
Draws
3
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wins
7
Luton Town vs Wolves: What's their record at Wolves?
Unsurprisingly, it's once again a similar story when it's Wolves' turn to play host.
That said, the Old Gold do have a slightly better record at Molineux than their opponents as they have won seven of the 16 games played at the ground, whereas Luton have won just six – once again drawing the remaining three.
Luton Town Wins
6
Draws
3
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wins
7
Luton Town vs Wolves: Which team has the most goals?
Well, with the way everything else has gone in this fixture, it really should come as a massive surprise that, once again, the teams are incredibly close – near enough even – when it comes to the number of goals scored.
It's Wolves that once again have the slight edge here as they have scored 59 goals to Luton's 55, but there really isn't much in it at all.
The 114 goals that have been scored by both teams does mean that, on average, there are 3.45 goals per game in this fixture – so you really don't want to miss it this weekend.
Luton Town Goals
55
Wolverhampton Wanderers Goals
59
Luton Town vs Wolves: What is Luton's biggest win?
For as closely fought as this fixture has been over the years – as you're well aware of by this point – there have been some big scores and drubbings over the years as well.
Luton's biggest win against Wolves came back in November 1955, when they won 5-1 in the old First Divison.
The scoring was opened with a brace from Gordon Turner before Bob Morton followed suit and grabbed a brace of his own, with Michael Cullen rounding off the rout late on. The only goal for the visitors was scored by Johnny Hancocks.
Luton Town vs Wolves: What is Wolves' biggest win?
Wolves have had a few big wins over their Bedfordshire-based opponents over the years. They have put five past Luton Town on four occasions, with their most convincing win coming in April 1959.
Similarly to Luton's biggest win, this game was also in the old First Division, only this time it was at Molineux, and the hosts won 5-0.
A brace from Peter Broadbent opened the scoring before Colin Booth, Eddie Clamp, and Jimmy Murray got in on the act, scoring a goal each.
Luton Town vs Wolves: What are the recent results?
There have only been five games between the two sides since the turn of the millennium, with the most recent game being played over a decade ago, in January 2013.
With that in mind, it's Wolves that have generally got the better of Luton in those five encounters, winning three of them and drawing one.
The Hatters did win the most recent game 1-0, but the aggregate score from all five is 7-5 to the Old Gold.
Ultimately, we can't take too much from these results as the teams are entirely different now, but it could give Wolves a slight psychological advantage going into Saturday.
Luton Town vs Wolves: When is it?
Luton Town host Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 23rd September at 3pm British Summer Time.
The history of this tie and the situations of both teams make this a fixture you don't want to miss, even if it doesn't quite have the glamour attached to it that others might.
For their part, Wolves will be desperate to get another win on the board, for as good as they've looked so far, Gary O'Neil will need his forwards to start finding the back of the net if he is to keep the team away from a relegation scrap come the end of the season.
Luton, on the other hand, will be looking at this game as an opportunity to show to the rest of the league that they are where they belong, and Rob Edwards will be hoping the atmosphere at Kenilworth Road can give his team that little bit extra when the whistle is blown.
