Rob Edwards, the manager of Luton, acknowledged that while his injured players had made strides towards helping the Hatters stay in the Premier League, he doesn’t think many will be well enough to play tomorrow against Brentford.
Last weekend, Town travelled to Manchester City without twelve first team players. Teden Mengi, Chiedozie Ogbene, Elijah Adebayo, Sambi Lokonga, Gabe Osho, Mads Andersen, Dan Potts, Jacob Brown, Marvellous Nakamba, and Amari’i Bell were all out with various injuries. Issa Kabore was ineligible to play against his parent club.
With centre half Tom Lockyer still recovering from a cardiac episode at AFC Bournemouth back in December, the Hatters will be missing a total of twelve first team players. Despite the fact that Kabore is now eligible to return, Edwards disclosed that only Teden Mengi remained a possibility to play against the Bees, saying, “It’s still that way.” We’ve made improvement this week, but it remains to be seen if that can translate into real development on the pitch right now. Although I don’t see many changes, we are moving forward. Although it will be challenging tomorrow, we’re hoping to see some of those players return in the upcoming games.
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With games running out, Edwards knows he may have to take some risks soon. Lokonga, Adebayo, Ogbene, and Osho seem to have a better chance of playing some sort of part against Wolves and then Everton. However, when asked if Andersen, who hasn’t appeared since Boxing Day, and Potts, who hasn’t played a minute this season, could be available, he responded, “They’re in the list of maybes.” They’re in the maybe category, but they’re not quite out of the running.
“It could be a game or two at the most. It would be fantastic if we could get back to the final few matches. They are giving it their all, and connections are growing, but some individuals have been away for several weeks, so they may not be able to adjust to the pace of things right once. There is still some risk, but since the games are running out, there will come a time when it will be worthwhile to take those chances as well.
Unfortunately, Edwards stated that Nakamba, Bell, and Brown—who have all had surgery this term for hamstring and knee injuries—were not included in that category. Those three are unquestionably
In an attempt to stop Pep Guardiola’s team, which was chasing a treble, on Saturday, Edwards was forced to start with a back four consisting of Fred Onyedinma, Daiki Hashioka, Reece Burke, and Alfie Doughty. However, after losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League midweek, that goal is now down to just a double. Town may have to play a similar game tomorrow against Brentford, who may have England striker Ivan Toney available to them after losing 5-1 and giving up three goals late in the game. The manager stated, “We’re got about 11 or 12 out, we had two goalkeepers on the bench, five teenagers on the bench at Man City.”
