FEATURE: Find out how Luton Town have done when facing a three game week

After going down to a heavy 4-0 defeat at Cardiff City on Saturday, Hatters boss Nathan Jones mentioned more than once, the issue with his side when it comes to playing their third league game in a week.

Prior to the encounter, Jones had talked of a need to freshen things up going into the contest, with Luton having had two tough home battles with Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City, gaining another precious point in both.

He eventually opted against it, bringing in just Ryan Tunnicliffe for Elliot Lee, but two goals in the opening nine minutes meant the result was only going one way from very early on, the dominant Bluebirds adding two more in the second period for good measure.

Chatting to the press pitch-side and via zoom having watched Town fall to their heaviest defeat of the season, Jones spoke of a wish that he had made 11 changes to his side, but didn't to avoid being accused of not taking the game seriously, saying: "We have to address it because three big games in a week, we seem not to be able to handle that and to maintain those levels, so I’m going to have to do that I think in terms of freshen it up, to get the level of performance.

“Something has to change, as we don’t get turned over midweek, we usually get turned over that third game in a week."

It's been something of a common theme since the Hatters won promotion to the second tier, an inability to cope with a three game week, with both Graeme Jones and now Nathan Jones, highlighting the issue.

But just how bad have Luton been when faced with the final fixture of their triumvirate in seven days since a return to the Championship?

Well, it actually started pretty well for the Hatters back in August 2019, as having gone down 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, they headed to Barnsley, where a brilliant start saw Jacob Butterfield, James Collins and Harry Cornick blow the hosts away with three goals inside 30 minutes as Town picked up a first victory of the season, eventually triumphing 3-1.

That was done with just the one change, an injured Martin Cranie dropping out and Luke Bolton coming in.

Things started to go downhill from there though, Luton drawing 1-1 with Millwall before going to Derby with two alterations, Callum McManaman and Andrew Shinnie preferred to Izzy Brown and Butterfield, in a match that Simon Sluga will want to erase from his memory, losing 2-0.

It carried on, Hatters beaten 3-2 at Fulham in October, then heading to Birmingham with three new faces this time, only to come home empty-handed, Lukas Jutkiewicz on target, as he always seems to be, to snatch the victory late on.

Town's problems reached an all new low in November though, as after an excellent 2-1 win over Charlton, they went to Brentford with the same team, and unfortunately we all know what happened next.

There appeared no end in sight as the Hatters travelled to Preston after losing 3-0 to Stoke, Jones swinging the axe with four changes, but yet again, a late winner, this time by Jayden Stockley, saw the points stay in Lancashire.

Whatever they tried wasn't working, Town going to West Bromwich Albion after beating Derby 3-2 under the lights at Kenilworth Road, but lost out 2-0, Donervon Daniels in for Sonny Bradley that day.

However, the miserable sequence was finally ended in February, when making the trip to Middlesbrough following a 1-0 midweek success against Sheffield Wednesday.

Tunnicliffe's first goal for the club saw Luton return the same scoreline at the Riverside, as Jones' decision to swap four of his players, Cranie, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Luke Berry and Kazenga LuaLua all coming in for Glen Rea, James Bree, Brown and Cornick, paid off handsomely.

Town looked to have found a solution, as when hosting Brentford and then Stoke, they followed up a 2-1 success over the Bees with a 1-1 draw against the Potters, courtesy of Collins' late penalty, with just the one change to the side between matches.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic, with Graeme Jones leaving the club during lockdown, Nathan Jones coming in, and he struggled immediately, making four changes to the team that drew 1-1 with champions-elect Leeds, only to see Reading leave Kenilworth Road as 5-0 victors on a shocking afternoon for the hosts.

The former boss looked to have it under control again for the remainder of the season though, winning at Huddersfield on the Friday night after drawing 1-1 with Barnsley having made two changes, then doing the same against Hull to record a crucial 1-0 win following the 1-1 draw with QPR.

This season, again, it's not quite as bad as you would have thought either, Luton turning in a hugely disappointing performance to lose 2-0 at Millwall, but then bouncing back with four changes to win 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.

They did go down 3-0 to a high-class Brentford side having made two alterations from the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest, but after a 1-0 win at Rotherham, claimed another point when holding Huddersfield 1-1, again with two new players coming in.

So although the demolition at Cardiff on Saturday has given Jones food for thought when going forward, taking it all into account, a record of five wins, two draws and eight defeats from the 15 third matches in a week isn't terrible by any means.

The main problem is that all of their biggest defeats have come when Town have had to go again for the third time, with 29 goals conceded in total, scoring just 12 themselves, while both managers have also made 32 changes in total, averaging just over two per game.

A crazy season means Luton will be playing three fixtures a week for most of December and it shows little sign of easing off in the new year, a congested schedule in place to ensure the campaign finishes in time.

So it will be with great interest that the teamsheet is received in Wales this weekend when the Hatters head to Swansea, after going up against league leaders Norwich City on Wednesday night, plus Preston and Bournemouth later this month, to see exactly how Jones decides to deal with that third game in seven days conundrum.