Edwards knows the Hatters could need four more wins to stay in the Premier League

​Luton chief Rob Edwards knows his side could need three or maybe even as many as four wins from their final six games of the season to ensure their Premier League safety this term.

The Hatters earned a first victory in 10 top flight encounters on Saturday after beating AFC Bournemouth 2-1 at Kenilworth Road thanks to Carlton Morris’s late goal. It was enough to see Town cut the gap to fourth bottom Nottingham Forest, moving level on points with the Reds, only behind Nuno Espirito Santo’s team on goal difference following their 3-1 loss at Spurs on Sunday.

A two point deduction for Everton on Monday afternoon means Luton are now just two points away from the Toffees while both Brentford and Crystal Palace still remain in sight. Following the Hatters’ journey to Manchester City on Saturday, Town face home games against Brentford, Everton and Fulham, plus away fixtures at Wolves and West Ham, as asked just what results he thought his side would need to remain in the highest tier of English football for another campaign, Edwards said: “I don’t know what points it’s going to take. I don't know what is going to happen elsewhere. Clearly next week is going to be difficult against City away, but we will go there with a plan and try and compete like we have in every single game. We know how difficult that is and what they’re fighting for, after that there’s five games against teams that we can get points.

"So clearly they're going to be really, really important and like today we will put the pressure on (the players). If I say three wins, it gives us a chance. We might need four, we might need another 12 points which is some going from the remaining games, but what we’ve done, we’re in the fight at the moment.

"We’re in that mix, so it's difficult to say how many we’re going to need, what we’re going to need. We’re going to just go into every game and try our best and try to win it. We have got games there that we’ll go in with total belief that we can as well. Hopefully we get some bodies back as well in the next few weeks. We’re working really hard and hopefully we can only get stronger from here on in.”

Although the Town boss and players have remained exceedingly confident about their chances of staying up this term, finally getting a long overdue three points on the board will boost those hopes even more, as Edwards continued: “It’s huge. Clicker (Jordan Clark) was saying on the bus back from Arsenal ‘we just need that win, we’re playing well, we just need the win.'

"That was a good performance and a win, so it does so much for morale, for belief and confidence and those are things that you can’t put your finger on. In my programme notes I talked about you have to win to have belief. We haven’t won loads of games this year, but because of the performances, that’s given me the belief. That’s given a lot of the players the buy-in, they’ve stayed with us because they’ve competed well, but you have to get those to keep that.”

When Morris volleyed home Cauley Woodrow’s cross in the final seconds, there was no stopping Edwards' celebrations as realising a much-needed victory was in their grasp, he went sprinting down the touch-line, high-fiving home fans, before regaining his composure when realising the winner could still be chalked off by the officials at Stockley Park. He said: “It was a great moment with the fans, I lost it a little bit there, the emotion got to me.

"Because of VAR I was thinking, oh no, what have I done, they’re going to just say no. I just feel like, we’ve had one and a half games this year against Bournemouth, with two really tough games down there for very different reasons, so it’s nice to get that winning feeling.”

Having regularly had to walk round and applaud Town’s after a valiant defeat this term, then Edwards was more than happy to be able to salute the Kenilworth Road crowd after a fourth victory on home soil, as he added: “Winning a game, there’s no better feeling and it’s almost why we do it. That’s why it’s been so difficult as you keep going, keep going and this year they’ve been so few and far between the wins.

"Wins have almost been for us, competing, getting something where we can but showing like we did on Wednesday and especially that second half performance against Arsenal. Some people might have thought, it’s a walk in the park for Arsenal, no it wasn’t, they were at it, they wanted to try and score more, but we competed and played really, really well in that second half.

"We could take that momentum into the game, so that makes me proud and pleased what we’re able to do almost fighting with one hand tied behind our back at the moment, the amount of people we’ve got out, so they deserve a lot of credit.”