Barkley aiming for 40-point mark to give Luton a chance of Premier League survival

​Luton midfielder Ross Barkley insists the Hatters can reach the magical 40-point target needed to hopefully ensure Premier League survival during what he expects to be a positive second half of the season

A narrow 3-2 defeat at home to Chelsea on Saturday saw Town complete the first half of their top flight campaign with 15 points to their name, courtesy of four wins, three draws and 12 defeats. Last term saw Everton remain in the highest tier of English football on 36 points, while in the four years previously, Burnley (38 and 39), Aston Villa (35) and Brighton (36), all finished fourth bottom to retain their status.

Town are still one point behind Everton following their 10-point deduction, four away from Brentford and five adrift of Nottingham Forest, but following back-to-back victories over the Christmas period, Barkley was looking at 2024 in an optimistic fashion, saying: “We’ve played all the big teams and we’ve come away with a lot of belief and positivity and confidence in the results against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Man City, Newcastle, those types of games.

"Maybe some teams are coming here (Kenilworth Road) thinking it might be a bit of a roll over, but everyone knows they’re in with a game when they play us now, and we’re growing. You can see the strikers putting it in. Carlton (Morris) came on last week (against Sheffield United), made a difference, he made a difference today (against Chelsea).

"Eli’s (Adebayo) getting goals, they’ve settled in now, they’ve bedded into the Premier League, they know that this is the level that they should be at. Everyone else is growing. Andros (Townsend) is growing game by game, Sambi’s (Lokonga) growing, our defensive players are growing, everyone’s growing in confidence, so I think second half of the season, there’ll be a bit more expectation on us from ourselves.

“We’ll keep pushing to get results. We’ve got 15 points, we should have had more, but if we can double that and get more results going our way, with a bit of luck, I think we can aim for the 40 point mark. So if we can keep pushing and stay strong together, we can have a good second half of the season.”

Despite falling 3-0 behind to Chelsea on Saturday, Luton went close to salvaging a point, Barkley glancing a header from Alfie Doughty’s corner into the net to pull one back with 10 minutes remaining. Elijah Adebayo then added a second in the closing stages, but despite some wonderful play from Barkley, one backheel through to Tahith Chong in particular, the Hatters just couldn’t find that leveller.

The midfielder was surprised they only had a minimum of six minutes added on at the end too, having faced far longer when trying to dig in for results against Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Newcastle, continuing: “There are positives to take. A good side with a lot of talent, we conceded three goals, responded really well, scored two goals, could have easily won the game in the end.

"I don’t know why there were just six minutes of added time when we’re behind and when we’re winning a game there’s like 10 minutes, it’s strange. If we would have maybe eight, who knows, we were pushing and pushing and they were under the cosh, they were on the ropes. Maybe if we had a few more minutes we could probably have got an equaliser, but we responded really well and I’m sure the fans will go away from it all being positive.

“There’s great team spirit in there. You go behind and you respond well. We went behind last week (at Sheffield United) and we won the game. It’s a great response from the team and it speaks for itself. Some teams in the league might go down 3-0 and just drop their heads, concede another two and then come away from the game with a 5-0 defeat. But we concede three, respond well, and we just keep pushing, it’s what this club is about.”

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