They still have the final stretch in front of them, but it feels like Luton are running out of runway. Yoane Wissa’s double, headers from Ethan Pinnock and Keane Lewis-Potter, and a late strike from Kevin Schade left their hosts a point from safety with four games to play.
While Rob Edwards, the Luton manager, refused to be drawn into talk of must-win games before the match, nor did he seek to downplay the significance of this fixture. His players knew that, with Everton hosting Nottingham Forest on Sunday, a win would lift them out of the relegation zone and ratchet up the pressure on their nearest rivals.
Brentford arrived on the back of a four-match unbeaten run, their longest since the opening four games of the season. If easing their own relegation fears had reduced their sense of urgency, they did not let it show: they went after Luton in the early stages, pressing them into several mistakes in possession including one that allowed Mikkel Damsgaard to thread through Lewis-Potter to fire wide.
Luton responded with an attempted counterpunch, Alfie Doughty testing Mark Flekken from a tight angle after a whirlwind attack. The game began to swing like a pendulum: Sergio Reguilón worked the space out wide on the left before curling a cross to the back post, where Lewis-Potter’s close-range header was saved by Thomas Kaminski and desperately cleared.
The pendulum swung towards Brentford on the 25-minute mark, Bryan Mbeumo slipping in Wissa who scooped a dipping shot over Kaminski from distance. It made little difference to the rhythm of the first half, the hosts roaring back and almost forcing an equaliser after a low cross from Issa Kaboré caused chaos in the area.
The two sides went at each other like wild-eyed boxers, throwing long hooks, swarming furiously, neither able to impose control. Lewis-Potter let another good chance slip, lashing over from the edge of the area, but Luton continued to maraud around the visitors’ final third even if a killer ball eluded them.
Just before half-time, however, Brentford tilted the match even more heavily in their favour. Having rattled the crossbar with an ambitious effort moments earlier, Mbeumo funnelled a cross into the area from the right. Reece Burke squandered two attempts to clear and Wissa poked in from five yards.
Luton threw themselves back into battle defiantly after the break, but their resolve soon crumbled. Pinnock made it three with a towering header from a corner on 62 minutes, before Lewis-Potter finally got on the scoresheet with a stooping nod after another superb ball from Mbeumo.
It has not happened often this season but, after an initial burst of frustration, a resigned hush fell over the ground. Kristoffer Ajer, back from injury, almost made it 5-0 with another headed effort, but Kaminski managed to claw it away.
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When the fifth did come, it was met with little more than a shake of the head by most of the home fans. Luton’s defence went to pieces, Vitaly Janelt ghosting in behind before teeing up Schade, on as a substitute, to thunder a shot into the back of the net unchallenged.
“As good as Brentford were, I thought we were equally as bad,” Edwards said. “For the first time really this season, we looked like we showed a lack of belief in that second half … that’s something that we have to make sure we snap out of very quickly.”
The home fans were at least given something to cheer when, in injury time, a loose pass from Janelt allowed Luke Berry to steal in behind and nab a consolation.
For Brentford, it was an excellent win that confirms that, despite their mid-season slump, they fully deserve to remain in the Premier League for another year. Thomas Frank commended his side for staying “super focused”, saying it was “very pleasing” to get back-to-back victories for the first time since November.
For Luton, it was a disheartening result that provides perfect clarity. If they are relegated, they will go down knowing they have survived far worse as a club and should be in a strong position to bounce back. If they are to preserve their top-flight status, they will most likely need to finish the season with maximum points.
