Graeme Jones says Luton must ‘embrace’ the challenge of facing Leicester City in the Carabao Cup but knows the scale of the task after the Foxes beat Spurs at the weekend.
City are some people’s outside bets to upset the Premier League’s top four this term and their 2-1 turnaround against Tottenham on Saturday, emphasised their talents under Brendan Rodgers.
Town, on the other hand, are still reeling from two defeats on the spin in the Championship, where they’ve twice conceded three goals in sub-30-minute spells.
Talking of Leicester’s abilities, the Luton manager said: “They beat Tottenham. Tottenham got to the Champions League final three months ago, that’s the level of challenge we’ve got now.
“Everybody wanted that at this football club, everybody, me included. We have to embrace it. What are we going to do, look back and go ‘oh well?’
“We’ve got to dust ourselves down, look forward to the challenge and we have to find a way of growing, and we have to find a way of getting results.”
Leicester fielded a strong side to see off Newcastle in the previous round of the cup, which suggests Rodgers believes it is a competition the Foxes can win this term.
At Cardiff in the previous round, Jones fielded a side full of fringe players, but he said: “We are ex-winners of the competition so we’ve treated it seriously from the moment the rounds started. We’ll be treating it seriously and Tuesday night, I think the opposition dictate that. We’ve got to dust ourselves down and get ready.”
Jones is aware of Town’s history in this competition – after they won it in 1988 – but he is under no illusions of a repeat.
I am heavily associated with Mick Harford, who is part of our group,” he said, adding: “He mentions it and I think it’s a tradition of the club, but we need to make sure we are competitive on Tuesday night before we start thinking about winning the League Cups.”
However, Jones does expect for Hatter James Justin to make his Leicester debut tonight, after he left Kenilworth Road in the summer.
Jones told the club’s website: “That was the sad part of the job for me, coming in when you’ve got two really dominant full-backs – I saw Jack Stacey play on Friday and you see what he brings to the show, James Justin exactly the same.
“You come in and you haven’t got those players available, which is disappointing, but I think what everyone needs to remember is what he did for the football club, what both of them did.
“But obviously James is coming back, how luck would have it. I expect him to make his debut tomorrow night for Leicester, so you’d think we will give him a warm reception and then make it as difficult as we can for him, so I look forward to seeing him.
“I am aware of what James Justin can do, he was regarded as possibly our best player here – he hasn’t played for Leicester yet, so it gives you an idea of the level.”
