Jack Wilshere has delivered positive news on the fitness of Jordan Clark and Nahki Wells ahead of Luton Town’s trip to Peterborough United tomorrow, while Harrison Ashby is also closing in on a return to action.
Clark missed Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory over Doncaster Rovers through illness but has returned to training and is available again, giving the Town manager another option as the Hatters look to make it four successive League One wins.
Wells was forced off during the Doncaster game after feeling an unusual sensation, but Wilshere confirmed the striker was back in training today after being given a few days to recover.
“Clicks is OK, trained yesterday,” Wilshere said, adding: “It was frustrating that he missed a game for illness, but in a way, it kind of worked out OK because we win the game and you get fresh Jordan Clark. So, yeah, he’s back.”
The manager was also asked about Clark’s increasingly advanced position in recent matches, explaining that the midfielder has the intelligence to recognise when to move away from his starting position and support the attack.
“First of all, Clicks is an intelligent player that recognises the right moment to do that, the right moment to drop a little bit lower,” he said.
“Recently, in the games that I can think of at the top of my head, Barnsley, Leicester, they wanted to press us high and, with Walshie and Donley a little bit lower, they’re sort of then getting pressed and getting marked. So, there’s probably then no advantage of trying to play through and trying to play. Maybe you can play around them.
“But Clicks recognises the right moments to get closer to Nahki, and we play a little bit more into the front line. He’s there for second balls.”
Wilshere added: “We want to play with the structure, but probably what everyone loves and what I love about Jordan Clark is he starts in the structure, but then he finds the right moments to leave that and he has the freedom to do that because he’s an intelligent player. Hopefully we can get him on the ball more in them areas because he can definitely hurt opposition.”
There was similarly encouraging news on in-form striker Wells, who Wilshere said had experienced a sensation he was not comfortable with during the Doncaster victory.
“Nahki’s OK. It was like a neural thing. I’m not a physio, so I won’t even try and explain it, but he felt a sensation that he wasn’t comfortable with,” he said.
“I’ve said it before, we have to trust Naks. A 36-year-old who knows his body better than anyone else and has also given a lot over the last five games.
“We made the decision at that point to bring him off because we didn’t want to risk him. He’s been doing really well for us and we want to keep him fit. We gave him a few days to recover, but he should train today.”
Wilshere was also pleased with the way Wells and Callum Marshall linked up after the latter came into the side from the start against Doncaster in midweek, insisting the two strikers offer different qualities and can play together.
“Two intelligent players, two different number nines, which we need. We need the ability to have variation in the way we attack,” he said.
“Nahki obviously had the shirt for a while because he was doing so well and scoring goals. But let’s not forget, Marshy is also a really, really good striker that we want to work with, we want to make him even better and, in my opinion, the more times he’s got on the pitch, the better he looks, and scores some important goals for us as well.
“So, yeah, they can both play together. They can also, both players, play as a single nine. But we want to keep them both fit and both hungry.”
The manager revealed that he and Wells had discussed the possibility of the striker playing in a deeper role last season, with the Doncaster game offering another opportunity to explore that option.
“We had conversations last year, me and Nahki, and done some work upstairs in a meeting room with him around playing a little bit deeper. It never really happened that much last year, but we identified how he plays as a nine and when he drops in, and sometimes like a little bit of a false nine, that he has the ability to do that,” Wilshere said.
“The other night he did. He played a little bit deeper, but the intention was only at the right moment to drop down, which I thought he’d done really well.”
Wilshere also confirmed that midfielder Jayden Luker is getting closer to a return, while right back Ashby was due to take part in his first training session today.
“Of course, now we’ve got Dan Gore coming back, Jayden Luker closer, who had a really good pre-season and someone that everyone was really excited about to see how he starts the season. Unfortunately, he got injured,” the manager said. “That’s what we want. We want competition for places.”
On the Newcastle loan defender, Wilshere added: “Ashby will train for the first time today. Probably too soon for him, but, yeah, it’s good to have him back.”
The manager pointed to Isaiah Jones as an example of how competition for places can benefit the squad, with the full-back having taken his opportunity in the last two-and-a-half games, due to an injury to Hakeem Odoffin, after previously being out of the side.
“Players will be frustrated with that, but players will also be watching and I think actually Izzy Jones is a really good example of that, coming into the team,” Wilshere said.
“He was obviously out of the team, and Haks was playing right-back, which probably frustrated him a little bit, but he used it in the right way and he’s come into a consistent team, a consistent back line that’s been performing really well, and he knows what he has to do. And he’s done that really well.
“Players looking in from the side will see that and see what you have to do to get in this team. And that creates good competition.”
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