Luton are likely to have at least four players returning from injury and available to face Sheffield United at Kenilworth Road tomorrow.
Town will host the automatic promotion candidates aiming to end a run of nine league games without a victory to try and pull away from the Championship drop zone.
The Hatters slipped to the foot of the table after a 2-0 defeat at fellow promotion-chasing Sunderland on Wednesday night, but they’ve had a boost for the weekend’s game.
Alfie Doughty, Isiah Jones, Amari’i Bell and Shandon Baptiste are all available to face the Blades, though boss Matt Bloomfield only offered a “possibly” when asked about the first three returning, a knowing smile gave the game away.
“We’ve got some good options. We’ve got, obviously, competition for places. The recruitment in January was fantastic. Those boys have had a couple of bits going on, as we’ve discussed, but they’ve all trained this morning. And, we might include one or two tomorrow,” said the Town manager.
“We need Championship experience. We need the boys who’ve been there and done it. We need know-how. And the experience of being there at the sharp end.
“With a quick turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday, I think it’s important to have a little bit of freshness about us as well. So, yeah, it’s nice to have those boys back on the training ground.”
Another long-awaited return is that of midfielder Baptiste, who hasn’t featured since the end of November, in an injury-hit debut season with Luton.
“Shandon’s very, very close to being involved, which is great. Reece [Burke], not quite so much, but not far away,” said Bloomfield, adding of the former Brentford man: “He’s a big player. He’s a very good footballer.
“Obviously, he’s played at a real good level. He’s been back out in the grass, he’s training well, and he’s got a smile on his face and he’s enthusiastic to be back, so it’s nice to have him back.
“He brings both sides of the game. He’s an all-round midfield player. He can handle the ball and also he’s got a good physicality about him with pressing and winning duels. He’s a he’s a real good player.
“He’s obviously been a miss for the football club in the period of time he’s been out. So, again, it’s another plus for us to have him back. He’s not fully match fit yet, so we have to be careful with him. We don’t want him to get injured again. but we’ll see if we can get him back out on the pitch, it’ll be great for us.”
While Burke and Tahith Chong remain sidelined, the manager reported no new injury issues after Wednesday, saying: “Everyone’s fine. A couple of knocks and niggles, which comes with a quick turnaround, but everyone’s good. We trained well this morning. had a good meeting and looking forward to the game tomorrow.”
