Rob Edwards believes Luton have given themselves a “fighting chance” of staying in the Premier League in 2024 with their performances at the end of 2023.
Town lost 3-2 at home to Chelsea on Saturday, but it was a match where they fought back from 3-0 down, saw a goal ruled out by VAR and hit the woodwork twice in a thrilling finale.
It meant the Hatters could not finish 2023 with three wins on the spin after beating Newcastle and Sheffield United over Christmas, but those triumphs plus the home performances against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and the Blues, offered promising signs that they can achieve the target of surviving their first top-flight campaign for 32 years.
“We’d love to still be a Premier League football club come the end of the season,” said Edwards of his hopes for 2024.
“That’s obviously our big aim and was our aim at the start. That’s still the aim right now and we’re giving ourselves a fighting opportunity for that.”
Edwards celebrated a year in charge of Town in November and 2023 was one of remarkable success for the Hatters in which he guided the club to the Premier League for the first time ever, ending their play-off hoodoo to triumph on penalties at Wembley against Coventry.
It made Luton the only team ever to go from the non-league to the top flight and completed the greatest fairytale in football.
But the year did not come without its difficult times as captain Tom Lockyer collapsed in the Championship showpiece in May, suffering an atrial fibrillation. The Welsh international then collapsed again last month due to a cardiac arrest during the Bournemouth match. He was saved on the pitch and is now recovering at home.
But reflecting on the year as a whole, Edwards said: “It (2023) has been a great year for the club. There’s been some real challenges and obviously some in the last few weeks, some big challenges.
“But there have been some huge highs as well, which are fairly rare in football. It’s not always like that.
“We’ve had some enjoyable moments, some great games and we’ve been able to give the fans some great moments, and bounce off the fans, they’ve given us some great moments with the noise and the atmosphere that they create. I’d like to think that we’ve given them something to shout about and remember, so it (2023) certainly has been a year that we’ll remember forever.”
