Luton return to the Championship after one season back in the top flight
(Image credit: Alamy)
Luton's relegation from the Premier League has been confirmed after they lost 4-2 at home to Fulham on the final day of the season.
With a vastly inferior goal difference to 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, the Hatters were all but down anyway, needing a goal swing of extremely unlikely proportions to keep them up.
Nonetheless, the Bedfordshire club can take great pride in the fact that, mathematically, they took their fight for survival to the last game of the campaign – one at the outset of which they had been almost universally tipped to finish bottom.
Rob Edwards ensured Luton were able to compete in the Premier League (Image credit: Alamy)
Promoted as Championship play-off winners, Luton's maiden Premier League campaign came 31 years after their last spell in the old First Division – and, more notably, just nine years on from a five-year stint in the National League, the fifth tier of English football.
Operating with the smallest wage bill in the top flight, Rob Edwards' side were always going to be up against it – but they ended up putting 26 points on the board in finishing 18th, winning six games – more than 19th-placed Burnley and rock-bottom Sheffield United, both of whom finished above them in the Championship last season.
The Hatters' highlights included their first ever Premier League victory, 2-1 away to Everton in September, and a 4-0 thrashing of Brighton in January at Kenilworth Road – the home where they also held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw, pushed Arsenal all the way and gave champions Manchester City a real fright.
Tom Lockyer (pictured with teammate Carlton Morris) supported Luton throughout their relegation scrap, unable to feature after suffering a cardiac arrest in December (Image credit: Alamy)
But such memories were put into real perspective when promotion-winning captain Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Bournemouth in December.
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Lockyer had to be resuscitated and spent the rest of the season recovering (it remains to be seen whether he will be able to resume his career) – and in his absence, Luton battled defiantly to preserve their Premier League status.
In the end, it wasn't to be, but the Hatters drop back down to the Championship in a strong position.
Luton's relegation means that all three promoted teams have been relegated for just the second time in the Premier League era – after Barnsley, Bolton and Crystal Palace suffered the feat back in 1997/98.
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
