Sport
Luton chief is forced to start offensive midfielder against city
Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted that he might well have to take the risk and give teenager Joe Johnson his full Premier League debut during this afternoon’s trip to Manchester City.
The 18-year-old, who signed a new long-term contract with the club recently, has been in a number of squads so far this term, starting the 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Exeter back in September, also coming on in the 2-1 FA Cup victory at Everton earlier this year. He then had around an hour during the 6-2 exit to today’s opponents in the fifth round at Kenilworth Road as well, before contracting glandular fever which left him laid low for around a month.
However, with Luton’s defensive issues meaning that their seven recognised centre halves have all been unable to train this week, with doubts over both Reece Burke and Teden Mengi from last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth, there is a chance that Johnson could be called upon. Having seen just what the likes of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have to offer first hand during that cup exit could stand him in good stead though, as speaking yesterday, Edwards said: “We’ve got to look at what Joe’s last six weeks or whatever long has been.
“He’s had glandular fever, he was in bed for a couple of weeks, he’s been training for a while, but to put him in from the start would be a big risk. We’ll see if we’re forced into that. We’ve had a good chat with Joe today and he knows he could well be needed.”
Johnson has been back on the bench for Town’s last three matches, as he had a watching brief on Saturday when the Hatters ended their 10-game winless run and breathed new life into their hopes of staying up thanks to Carlton Morris’s late winner to defeat the Cherries. On what it has done for the mood of the players, Edwards continued: “It certainly lifted, three points is hard to come by in the Premier League for a newly promoted team.
“We’ve played really well at times this year and not won or not got points, so it was great to get a good performance and three points. It’s huge for confidence and belief, but I have stressed before, even in a poor run of results, performances were good and confidence was high. That’s been really key to us staying in games and performing well, so it certainly helps going into a game like this.”
Luton approach this afternoon’s round of fixtures level on points with fourth bottom Nottingham Forest and trailing Everton by two, while Brentford and Crystal Palace are also not assured of their own safety, in 15th and 14th respectively. Asked just how he rates the Hatters chance of remaining in the top flight, Edwards added: “I think they’re as good as anyone else’s, I do. That’s all we could have hoped for at the beginning, but I’ve believed fully from the start and I’ve said that consistently.
“Now we enter that final run-in in a decent position that we all would have taken, I would love to have been on more points, but all of us in that mix can say we’ve left points out there. This is the situation we’re in, but we’re in the fight and let’s go for it in the coming games. Like the other teams, it’s in our own hands if we get the right amount of points. Whatever they are we don’t know, but we can stay in the league. If we can push it all the way to the wire then we’ve done an incredibly good job.”
