Harford targets 10 wins to ensure Luton stay in the Premier League

​Luton’s chief recruitment officer Mick Harford is targeting 10 wins for Town to guarantee their Premier League survival this season.

The Hatters will be mixing it with the big boys in the top flight having won the Championship play-off final after beating Coventry City 6-5 on penalties last month.

Last season, Everton stayed up with 36 points, winning eight matches from 38, while Nottingham Forest also secured their safety after nine victories.

Most outside of Bedfordshire are tipping Luton to go straight back down, Sky Bet declaring Rob Edwards’ side the early favourites at 2/5 to be relegated, ahead of Sheffield United (8/11) and Bournemouth (5/2).

Championship title-winners Burnley and Forest are both 3/1 to drop out of the league as well, but Harford doesn’t want the Hatters to just be a one season wonder.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “The aim is to win games and stay up.

"I think we need to win 10 games, then hopefully you can draw six or seven and that will keep you in the league but we’ll go there full of confidence and we know we've got a big asset in Kenilworth Road.

"It’s a tough place to come, teams coming there now find it very tough and we'll make it very difficult for them."

While most connected with the club remain in a sense of disbelief that Luton will take their place at the top table of English football this term, welcoming players like Mo Salah, Erling Haaland and Casemiro to their home stadium, speaking about just how they achieved the feat, Harford added: “We are dreaming, there's a lot of belief at the football club, we've been climbing very, very steadily through the leagues in the last 10 years.

"This year was a fantastic year, Rob coming in and steadying the ship (after Nathan Jones left) and playing some great football.

"He did a magnificent job in getting us promoted, so we're really looking forward to the challenge now.

"It takes a lot to happen, takes a lot of hard work, a lot of endeavour, a lot of organisation, lots of skills and lots of support from our chairman, our board, 2020, Gary Sweet (CEO), who support the manager really well.”