Isaiah Jones is back fit and available for tomorrow’s visit of Leeds, with one other Luton ace making strides in his return from injury.
The wing back missed last week’s 1-0 win at Hull City after he returned from goalscoring international duty with Guyana with a slight knock, which afforded minutes to Reece Burke and, for the first time in four months, Tahith Chong.
“He’s fine. He’s trained all week, which is fantastic,” manager Matt Bloomfield said of Jones, adding: “Obviously, he came back from Guyana with a slight issue, which meant he was unable to play at Hull last week, but he’s trained the week and he’s looking in a lot better shape than what he did this time last week.”
It means that Town host promotion-chasing Leeds with no fresh injury concerns, though the manager said: “Burkey was a little bit sore, but the plan was always just to try and split the minutes between him and Chongy when it became apparent that Izzy was unable to play.
“Having Chongy back is and another massive plus for us, another good attacking option for us. He’s trained really well again this week. You’d never guess he’s been out for the period of time he has. He’s a really fit boy, really sharp, obviously got loads of attacking instincts and attacking ability. And he’s someone who we want to use as much as we can between now and the end of the season.”
And Bloomfield revealed that there is a possibility that Teden Mengi could soon feature for the Hatters, though the club will be careful with the central defender as he’s been out since November after going under the knife for a knee injury.
The Luton chief said: “Teden has been in training all week with the group, which is fantastic. Another big player for our football club that we’re welcoming back, that we’re looking forward to having him back in the fold.”
Asked if the former Manchester United man could be available on match day, Bloomfield said: “Possibly. Possibly not.
“We’ve got to be really careful with Teden that we look after him. It’s been four months, so we have to make sure that he’s ready.
“He’s a massive player for our football club and we’ve had it number of times with Burke and Chongy, these guys returning from longer injuries, making sure we look after them in their reintegration to the group and the team.
“Teden is back in and around it and he’s right at the forefront of my mind. And as soon as he’s ready to contribute, he’ll be there to do so.”
Daiki Hashioka is also available and has been for “a couple of weeks,” Bloomfield said.
Second-from-bottom Town take on a second-placed Leeds side that are in the middle of a wobble in terms of their bid for automatic promotion, with just one win in their last five Championship games, while the Hatters have won three and drawn one in the same period, making them one ofd the form teams in the bottom half of the league.
“[It’s a] really exciting game to be a part of. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Bloomfield, adding: “The lads have trained really well this week and, Yeah, we’re looking forward to getting going.
“I think there’s going to be a number of times we say that [it could be a cracker] between now and the end of the season. If you look at the games we’ve got coming up, it’s fantastic, starting with tomorrow and it’s one for us to look forward to welcoming Leeds.
“Obviously, a massive football club, fighting to get out of the league, to the Premier League and, and we’re fighting for the points for our own reasons.
“We feel like we’ve had a good week’s prep and we’re looking forward to starting the game.”
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