Jordan Clark says that Luton’s trip to relegation rivals Burnley is a “massive” game and that Town owe the Clarets one for their defeat earlier in the season.
It’s a clash that has been brought forward three days after the Hatters failed to see off Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup third round.
A replay, scheduled for Tuesday evening meant that the original Monday night Premier League clash at Turf Moor had to be brought forward and a warm-weather training camp for Town postponed.
Both teams sit in the top flight relegation zone, though Luton have the upper hand slightly as they’re third from bottom with a game in hand and four more points than the Lancashire side.
Victory for Luton will pull them out of the bottom three at the expense of Everton, until Sunday lunchtime at least when the play Aston Villa.
Burnley, however, have only managed three points on home soil all season, against rock bottom Sheffield United. Both of those two teams are faced the ominous statistic that, no team has lost 15 of their first 20 matches and surived.
“We’ll go up there and we obviously need to win that because it’s a massive game,” said Clark, adding: “It’s probably one of the biggest games we’re going to have this season, so far.”
The midfielder was still sidelined with an injury sustained in pre-season when the two teams faced off at Kenilworth Road in October.
Then, the Hatters were left shellshocked by a 2-1 defeat courtesy of Jacob Bruun Larsen stunner seconds after Elijah Adebayo had levelled with his first ever Premier League goal.
Clark said: “We built that up as a massive game when we played them at our place. They got the victory over us so we owe them one back.
“With the points we’re on now and we’re chasing the teams above us, so three points would be massive for us. We look forward to it and hopefully we can get three points.”
Town have been in good form at Kenilworth Road, if not getting the result they’ve deserved, but on the road they won their last game with a 3-2 comeback victory against Sheffield United.
Clark said: “We’ve gone a lot more aggressive than probably the start of the season, especially at home, teams have struggled.
“We haven’t got the results we probably deserved, but away from home we’ve just got to keep playing how we want to play. Not change for nobody. I think that’s probably the best bet for us going forward.
“It gives the opposition a lot of problems, especially when we’re aggressive and pressing high.
“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of talented players in our team, who can handle the ball well, so we’re starting to evolve into a controlling team.
“I think we had more possession than Chelsea, so it just shows you where we’re at. We’re improving all the time so we’ve just got to go into that massive game on Friday with a lot of confidence.
“Especially, if we take the performances from the league that we’ve had, get some more points on the board and hopefully that can start on Friday because it’s going to be a massive game.”
The 30-year-old will be hoping for a sixth Premier League appearance after impressing off the bench in an overall disappointing FA Cup stalemate against Bolton at the weekend, his first minutes in a month.
He had to wait until November’s trip to Manchester United for his first taste of the top flight, having injured his ankle in a friendly at German side Koln.
“It’s football,” said Clark, adding; “It was a gutting time, but I’ve been back fit for a while now, it’s just about obviously biding my time and waiting for manager to call upon me again.
“Hopefully it won’t be too long in the league and I can get a few Premier League games under my belt and help the team out as much as I can.”
