Luton boss Rob Edwards says that tomorrow’s Premier League clash against his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers is not a must-win match – but he does want his Hatters to be more adventurous at home.
Town have started their first-ever campaign in the division with four straight defeats and are the only team in the competition yet to win a point.
Wolves have played a game more and have picked up one victory, with the game already being billed by some as a six-pointer.
Edwards said: “I don’t think it’s must-win at this stage and I think it’s dangerous for us to go into the game feeling like that. What I want to see is a performance, maybe slightly different to last week away from home where I want us to look like we’re the team provoking the game. I want us to look like we’re on the front foot and I want us to engage the supporters.
“Our fans really engage with that, when we try to take the game to the opposition as well. I think that will make for a good game because I don’t see Wolves backing down.
“They’re going to look to win the game and they’ll see it as an opportunity as well, let’s be real with it. They’ll think this is a chance for us to get three points.
“Their performances have been good. They went to Old Trafford and probably should/could have got something from that game with a really good performance. Against (Crystal) Palace, you could say the same thing as well.
“They’ve been playing well and maybe not got the points they deserve but this is the Premier League. This is the level that we’re all at. We certainly see tomorrow as an opportunity for us to get something from the game.”
The game, only Town’s second at home in the Premier League, is the first of three games against fellow teams being tipped to be fighting relegation, with Everton and Burnley to follow.
Asked about the trio of tests, Edwards said: “I’m not going into the games thinking we have to win this one because it’s against a team that’s down there with us at the moment. I just want us to go into the game looking at the performance and trying to do the right things.
“I really believe that if we do those basics well and continue to improve in the way that we are, those results will come. But after five or six games it’s already taking shape, so we’ll know even more about it by then.
“But I genuinely go into every game with a feeling that we’re going to get something from it.
“It’s hard to look too far ahead. I can only really focus on the next game and that is Wolves but I do understand the question. There are some games that people, from the outside, will say you’ve got to try to get something from these ones, but they’re all difficult.”
With one victory against Everton to their name this season, Wolves will be equally keen to win more points and perhaps avoid the record of being the first team to lose to Luton this season.
“The psychology of it can work both ways,” said Edwards, adding: “Whoever plays us this season is going to be faced with that pressure of (people saying) ‘you’ve got to be picking up points against Luton’.
“I know teams will respect us. They’ll do their homework and everything they can to win the game, but that pressure is there. You could probably sense it a little last week against Fulham.
“There’s an expectancy against us at the moment. That’s down to us to try and shift that a little bit and make things more difficult for teams by picking up points.
“There is probably a different psychology at home for us as to away from home. There is an element of a little bit more freedom for us away from home.
“If we want to block things up a little bit more there’s probably not that pressure on us. I want us to try to engage with our supporters at home and make it a really difficult place to come.
“It was understandable in the West Ham performance, the way we played after Brighton and Chelsea in not giving too many big chances away.
“But I think there’s a balance to be had in being more compact like we were and taking the game to the opposition and bit more. Hopefully we see a bit more of that tomorrow.”
