Edwards admits there is a temptation to rest experienced Hatters duo for Trotters cup tie

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted there is a real temptation to rest some of his more experienced players for this afternoon’s FA Cup clash against Bolton Wanderers.

With the Hatters having just completed a hectic December schedule of Premier League football that saw them play six matches, with the fixture at AFC Bournemouth abandoned after an hour due to Tom Lockyer’s cardiac arrest as well, they have a breather from the top flight campaign today when taking on a Trotters side, who themselves played seven times last month, as well as a game on New Year’s Day too.

Midfielder Ross Barkley didn’t miss a single minute for Luton during that hectic schedule, while Andros Townsend also made five starts as well, forward Elijah Adebayo heavily involved too. Asked if he was thinking of giving the likes of Barkley, who won the competition with Chelsea back in 2018, although was an unused sub during the 1-0 win over Manchester United at Wembley, while coming off the bench in the 2020 and 2022 finals as the Blues lost to Arsenal and Liverpool, and Townsend a breather for the match, Edwards said: “There’s temptation in every game to try and make sure we’ve got the right energy on the pitch. December was jam-packed with a lot, on and off the pitch, there was a lot going on.

"I think we’ve got a very, very fit team, the lads can handle it. January is slightly different, a bit quieter, so we can pick a team that is capable of winning the game. It’s important that we respect Bolton and the competition and we’ll do that with the team that we pick, but those older boys that you talk about as well are actually a couple of the fittest lads we’ve got, they really are, so that’s a real good thing for us.”

On the impact by Barkley, who scored his second goal for the club during a 3-2 defeat against Chelsea last weekend, Edwards continued: “He’s a special player, a special person. It’s great that he’s found a home and he’s happy. I think he feels supported, we allow him to go and be the best Ross Barkley possible and the best Ross Barkley is a pretty good player.”

Whatever decision he comes up with, then letting players know they will be missing out on another appearance is always the part of the job that Edwards dislikes the most, as he continued: “I think everyone wants to play and that’s the difficulty that I have. It’s good and it’s bad as well, as that’s the bit that keeps me up at night more than anything. It’s the disappointment. You’re sat in front of a brilliant group of people and you feel like you’re letting more of them down than are happy. So keeping a motivated group when some of them are a bit frustrated over a lack of game time, that’s the most difficult part of this job, that’s our biggest challenge.”

The boss doesn’t want to get his fingers burned for a third time either, as last season he made a number of changes for the FA Cup clash with Grimsby, as Luton disappointingly lost 3-0 in a replay at Blundell Park. They also altered the line-up dramatically in the Carabao Cup third round trip to Exeter this term, beaten 1-0 at St James Park, as Edwards knows the cup games have been the only real frustration of his time in charge at Kenilworth Road.

He added: “I want to respect every game that we go into, even since we’ve been here, the couple of cup games we’ve had, we’ve just dropped below our level. The message has always been, we’ve got to go into every game to try and win it. There’s been a couple of warnings there we can refer back to, make sure that we’re right at it and we have to be otherwise we’ll lose the game. It’s going to be a full house, our brilliant, brilliant fans are going to be there and making a noise, we’ve got to make sure we reward them with a performance.”