Nathan Jones has dismissed Neil Etheridge’s “crystal ball” prediction after the Birmingham City goalkeeper claimed Luton will be battling at the bottom this term, ahead of their Championship clash tomorrow night.
It comes days after Town drew 1-1 with Blackburn Rovers to leave egg on the face of Joe Rothwell who insisted in the build-up that Town were a team his should be beating.
Jones branded those pre-match comments “idiotic” as they helped fire up his Hatters and ensured they maintained their place above the Lancashire side in the Championship table.
Town are also sitting sitting seven places and four points above Birmingham, having finished above them last term as well, but stopper Etheridge said Luton will “be battling probably towards the bottom of the league as well at the end of the season. It’s all on us again.”
In response, Luton boss Jones said: “We can’t affect that. If his crystal ball says that then brilliant. All we can do is concentrate on what we do.
“We’ve been tarnished in the past, that we are this, or we are that, but it doesn’t matter. We know what we are. We are a fantastic football club with great fans, with players that love playing for the club, that have a desire to do well and want to push boundaries. We have staff that are aligned with that as well, so whatever people want to say about us they can.”
The two teams have near identical records in both boxes, with Luton having scored and conceded one more than Birmingham, and City boss Aitor Karanka has a reputation as a defensively astute manager.
Jones said: “They’ve got a very experienced Championship manager in Aitor. They were a Premier League club. Again, another club with a massive budget and expectation. It’s a tough, tough game again and they have to come here and prove that they’re better than us. That’s something we’re relishing and looking forward to.”
Luton will be without striker Danny Hylton, who missed Saturday’s draw against Blackburn with a calf injury that will see him out for another week, but left back Dan Potts is available and could be in contention to make his first start of the season.
