Luton boss Rob Edwards has confirmed that striker Elijah Adebayo will play against Oxford United tomorrow night and urged fans to back him to help him past his seven-game goalless streak in the Championship this term.
The forward had three big chances to break his duck as the Hatters slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Plymouth on Friday, but failed to hit the target.
It’s similar to his start in the Premier League last term when after his eighth game he missed a goal-line sitter against Spurs and was withdrawn in the following game.
But the Town chief says there will be no repeat for the Championship clash at Kenilworth Road against the newly-promoted Oxford.
“He’s working so hard for the team and he’s doing so much good for us. I’ll say it now, Eli’s playing tomorrow, and everyone needs to back Eli because he’s a he’s a massive player for us,” said Edwards.
“This is someone that scored a hat-trick in the Premier League last year. This is someone who is horrible to play against when he’s at his best, and he has been this year.
“He’s getting into great areas, and the goals will come as long as he continues to get in the right areas, the goals will come. I want us to encourage him. I want us to get behind him because that’s what we need to do at the moment, now.
“He’s been a huge player for us in this football club. For a long, long time in a big part of our success. And I want us to make some noise for him tomorrow, because it wasn’t that long ago, he was an absolute hero.
“And just because you’ve missed a few chances, we need to we need to make sure we get behind him, and the goals will come for Eli, I have no doubt about it.”
Edwards also confirmed that captain Carlton Morris is unlikely to be risked tomorrow night, having missed the trip to Devon with a thigh strain, though the forward is back in training, along with Daiki Hashioka and Shandon Baptiste, for whom the Oxford game will also be too soon.
In defence, Teden Mengi is in contention for selection despite his early exit at Plymouth, with the prognosis on a knee problem not as bad as first feared, though he replacement Mads Andersen who also suffered an injury will be out for a few weeks, alongside Amari’i Bell.
But at the top end, Adebayo will definitely have at least one changed support act as Tahith Chong won’t be available after a nasty head clash at Home Park on Friday.
Jacob Brown is available but Adebayo will lead the line again and Edwards is hoping he can play himself back into goalscoring form.
“Everyone can miss chances,” said the manager, adding: “The best in the world miss chances, but they continue to get there and they’ll go in and that’s all he’s got to keep doing at the moment. Work incredibly hard like he is, keep getting the right areas, which he is, and then the goals will come.
“Try and make good decisions and the right decisions as well, just because then, if a goal hasn’t come, you don’t have to do anything different, or try harder, take an extra touch. Those those are the bits that we need to just continue to, to stress to him. But he has our full confidence and backing
“We we know what he can do, don’t we? This this guy has given us some of the best moments that we’ve had in recent memory in recent history for this club.
“How good did he do with the assist for Clicker’s goal at Wembley?
“As I said, a hat-trick in the Premier League, some big and really important goals in the Premier League last year, as well as everything else that he does for us, the work-rate that he puts in for the team, his selflessness.
“So, let’s not worry about him and not make too big a thing of it either. The goals will come and there’s absolutely no doubt about that.
“Eli, of course he believes himself. All players do, but all players are human beings as well and they’ll feel and we’re never at our peak and our pinnacle and feeling our best all the time. But we’ve stressed how important he is to us and how much we believe in him. And, I know he’ll go and repay that. We just need everyone to make sure they’re on the same page with that.”
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