Jones ready for ‘season defining’ games as Luton chase promotion, starting at Middlesbrough

Nathan Jones says Luton’s next run of games will be “season defining” as they aim to cement their place in the Championship play-offs. 

There are 13 matches left and the in-form Town have won their last three in a row, having collected 25 points since the turn of the year.

They head to Middlesbrough tomorrow having moved two points ahead of the Teessiders to occupy sixth spot.

Luton have just been knocked out the FA Cup by World Club Cup champions Chelsea, but the night before, Boro were adding Tottenham’s scalp to a memorable run, which has also seen them dump out Manchester United. 

Coventry await three days later and they’re only three points behind, before the Hatters host Queens Park Rangers next Saturday, who sit one place and two points above Luton, but having played a game more. 

“They’re all massive games against rivals,” said boss Jones, adding: “This is what we wanted, this is the position we wanted to be in and it’ll be season defining, going to Middlesbrough. 

“They had a fantastic result (against Tottenham). They’ve put in a big shift, we’ve put in a big shift, so it’s going to be one of those games and we’re looking forward to it. 

“Then, when we come back here (to Kenilworth Road), we’ve got QPR on Sky, so they’re all massive games for us now. 

“We’re pushing boundaries at the minute and overachieving, but we don’t feel we’re overachieving ourselves, because we know what we do in-house. We believe that our work is more relevant than our budget.” 

To face Chelsea, Jones made five changes to the side that recorded their first hat-trick of Championship wins since returning to the division in 2019. Then he saw Aston Villa loan keeper suffer a suspected Achilles injury just 14 minutes into the match.

He said: “With the greatest of respect we made six changes, with Middlesbrough in mind. Could we cope in the Premier League? I don’t know. Would we like the opportunity? Absolutely.”

Steer is not expected to be fit to face Middlesbrough, while James Shea is also a doubt with a hamstring problem, so that could see third choice stopper Harry Isted make his league debut for Luton, after impressing against Chelsea.

Town will also wait to see if top scorer Elijah Adebayo is available after he suffered a knock against Derby on Saturday and was absent from the FA Cup squad to face Chelsea.

New signing Robert Snodgrass did make a debut cameo against the Blues, while Luke Berry returned after missing a month through injury, so is expected to be available.