Luton’s top scorer Elijah Adebayo is fit but has been rested in recent matches to avoid “flogging him” and keep him fresh for the season’s run-in, manager Nathan Jones has admitted.
After netting the winner against Bristol City last month he limped off the Kenilworth Road pitch and has missed the last two games.
But as Town prepare to face Cambridge United in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow, manager Jones has admitted the forward has been rested to protect him for the remainder of the campaign.
“Elijah is fit, it’s just we made sure he is fresh because we can’t keep flogging him,” said the Hatters chief.
“People forget, he’s young and I know people say he should be about to do this, should be able to do that, but no they’re not.
“Older players are usually more durable or if you talk about late 20s, that’s when you become durable because you are used to doing stuff, whereas Elijah is fresh, new to Championship football but he’s played a phenomenal amount of games.
“He covers a phenomenal amount of distance too. We’ve had to freshen him up because he wasn’t injured, but we just needed to make sure going into the final furlong if you like, that he is as fresh as he can be.”
Adebayo was one of three influential stars absent from Tuesday’s trip to Swansea, though they weren’t missed as Town still came away with the Championship points courtesy of a Harry Cornick strike.
Jones said: “Sonny is a tricky one because he’s just had the birth of his baby on the weekend so he has a bit of family leave. Jordan Clark is very close.
Town travel to face a Cambridge side that dumped Premier League Newcastle out of the FA Cup in the previous round.
Jones said: I think they will be bang up for it whatever, whether they beat Newcastle, Newport, or whoever they played.
“They will be a up for it, it’s a local-ish game, a game they want to win and we want to win and we are looking forward to it.
“The FA Cup is something we all love, it’s something different and we’re delighted with the tie for lots of reasons. Not that we think it’s an easy tie in any way but we’re delighted it has a bit of romance to it. We know they will be bang up for it, but so will we.”
Luton have only lost once in nine games, registering five clean sheets and notching 16 goals, among impressive league wins against Bournemouth and Swansea.
While he will utilise his squad, Jones insists the FA Cup is being taken very seriously.
Jones said: “We’re in good form, we’ve trained today, real high intensity training session, the boys were at it.
“One or two will get an opportunity at the weekend because they need a game and we need to test them. It’s a real good occasion and we want to get into the fifth round, we know that, financially, it can be beneficial, but we go into every game trying to win it.
“When we were League Two and League One, we competed well in the Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Johnstone’s Paint. Whatever side we put out, we were always competitive, and we will be taking this very seriously at the weekend.
“Not everyone will get a rest but one or two might because of the strength of the squad we have. We have to use people, but we won’t go there weak. We have to freshen things up, we did last week in the three games where we got seven points.
“People like (Tom) Lockyer came in and out, (Reece) Burke was in and out, Henri (Lansbury), the front two we swapped.
“A lot of people have freshness and Cambridge have played themselves, they’ve had some games, so we know we want to go there with real energy and athleticism, but we also know we want to win the game.”
