Luton Town head into tomorrow’s clash at Championship leaders Leeds United bolstered by the return of key players, brushing off earlier injury concerns.
Town travel to Elland Road aiming to arrest their away form where they’ve lost four on the spin, the last being that troubling 5-1 rout at Middlesbrough before the international break.
Even in the home win against Hull City at the weekend, Town had injury problems hit them just before kick-off when Amari’i Bell had to pull out and boss Rob Edwards fielded a back four made up of centre halves.
But the influential Jamaica defender has made a recovery and Edwards said: “He’s fit. It was a bit of a strange Achilles injury. Or he was in a lot of pain on the day, but he’s recovered well, and he’s available, which is good for us.
“It’s been a little bit stop-start and then we plan for him in on the weekend and we had to change. But look, like we said after the game, we addressed that, and the boys did great. So, that was good then, but obviously squad is stronger with him in.”
Even during the 1-0 win against the Tigers, Tom Krauß, Shandon Baptiste and Reece Burke all had to be withdrawn with issues, but the manager confirmed that they were all precautionary and they too are all availble for the trip to Leeds.
“It was more us being proactive and they were starting to feel things,” said Edwards of their substitutions at the weekend.
“Shandon was cramping up. Burkey, even at half time, was sort of saying that I’m not gonna be able to last all of it.
“The lads are being honest, we want them to be able to get through it and push as much as possible, but obviously don’t want to break people either.
“All the lads that came off, are fine. You expect people to go through it and push and none of the lads are ever going to be 100 per cent, but we want honesty for asking them how they are. We do genuinely want to know.
“You’re going to be in some pain and we expect that, so push through, but if it’s something that’s going to restrict you or cause something long term, then obviously we need to know about that.”
But their recoveries plus the return of Jordan Clark after he served his suspension at the weekend, means that aside from top chance creator Alfie Doughty (ankle ligaments) and Reuell Walters (broken foot), the Hatters have one of their strongest available squads this season.
Leeds beat Swansea 4-3 on Sunday with a last-gasp winner after the Welsh side thought they’d rescued a late point. It put United top of the league on goal difference over Sunderland.
Edwards said of the Yorkshire side: “They’re probably the best team. They’ve got some great individuals and playing with a lot of confidence. This is going to be a really, really good challenge and one we got to look forward to as well.
“You’ve got to embrace and enjoy these games. It’s going to be a be a really good atmosphere and we’re all really looking forward to it.
“They create a lot of chances. They don’t give much away the other end. They make it difficult for the opposition. The other day was obviously a bit of a high scoring affair. But, in general, they don’t give much away and obviously they’ve got a lot of good players at the top end of the pitch.
“Real clarity in how they play. Look, we know how difficult a game it will be, but we’re really looking forward to it. We showed good resilience on Saturday (against Hull). It wasn’t perfect, we know that, we said that afterwards, but there was a really good work ethic and, and a desire there from the players. Obviously, we have to show that in abundance going there tomorrow.”
Town have only won once on the road this term, losing five and drawing one, with the last two defeats the most troubling. They were 2-0 up at Coventry and lost 3-2 and then, after a decent opening 30 minutes, they capitulated and lost 5-1 at Middlesbrough.
“I probably wasn’t as concerned about it (away form) before the last couple of games,” said Edwards, adding: “I just think the last couple, we’ve touched on it as well ourselves, when we’ve been talking that, we’ve allowed one or two disappointments to then affect us.
“And I think that was why I really hit home the resilience that we showed on the weekend. And we’ve shown that in the last couple of home games.
“We could very well get a not a knock back tomorrow or a setback, and we’ve got to react in the right way. And, that’s probably been a bit frustrating in the last couple of away games, that hasn’t really been us.
“So, that’s a big thing that we’ve spoken about last week building into Saturday’s game. And, obviously, that will be going forward for us for the foreseeable future as well.
“It can’t always go your way. You can’t always get the first goal. You can’t always keep clean sheets. You’ve got you’ve got to deal with that, pick your head up and show the right attitude, the right stuff, to fight and get back in the game. That’s certainly what we’re looking for.”
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