Sonny Bradley is still recovering from Covid so won’t be available for Saturday’s trip to West Bromwich Albion, but fellow centre half Reece Burke is close to a return, Luton boss Nathan Jones has confirmed today.
The club captain has been absent from the squad since defeat to Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion, in the Hatters’ final pre-season friendly. New signing Burke and Welsh international defender Tom Lockyer also missed the Championship start last weekend, but the latter got 60 minutes against Stevenage in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
On the availability of his centre backs, Jones said: “Reece is closer than Sonny. Sonny is recovering, he has been a bit drained, so we have to be very careful bringing him back. He had Covid and he was struggling with it. Reece was just a minor thigh strain, but he is back out and training. He is a lot closer than Sonny.”
After a thrilling 3-0 victory against newly promoted Peterborough on Saturday, Town are riding high in second place in the Championship, but the Baggies are a different prospect altogether, after they came down from the top flight and are expected to make a strong bid for an instant return.
Jones said: “It is the toughest test I think now in the Championship to go away to West Brom is the hardest game I think, without being disrespectful. Fulham and Bournemouth have fantastic squads, all the sides that came down, Sheffield United will be tough. Middlesborough, Cardiff, wherever you go it is a tough game, but right now, with the manager and the way they (West From) play, the squad they have, it is as tough a place to go.
“It is a wonderful ground to go to. They sing, they have good fans and I remember the first time I saw them was here when they sung ‘Lord is My Shepherd’. (It’s a) fantastic place to play football but we have to relish that, we cant go there with any fear.
“It is a wonderful test but we love these tests and if it means we are testing ourselves and going into the game in the mentality we are, it means we have progressed significantly.”
1 Trackback / Pingback
Comments are closed.