Former Liverpool and England midfielder admits he was too early to write off Luton's chances of Premier League survival

Former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy insists he was wrong to write off the Hatters’ chances of staying in the Premier League so early on this season.

The ex-England international was one of many pundits who didn’t give Rob Edwards’ side a hope in hell after they won promotion to the top flight through the Championship play-offs last term, only winning one of their opening 12 matches. However, Murphy has been forced to change his tune after watching Town thrash Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 at Kenilworth Road in midweek, securing a third victory from five that lifted them above Everton and out of the relegation zone.

Discussing the display on talkSPORT, which saw Elijah Adebayo score Luton’s first hat-trick at this level in almost 34 years, he said: “I think a lot of the doubters got onside earlier than last night. I’ve seen their performances against Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, winning twice at Everton, once in the cup, once in the league, they’re well organised, they’re game, they’re hungry, they’re really tenacious and they’ve got some quality. (Ross) Barkley is looking like the player of old, he’s running things in the middle of the park, they’ve got a threat down the sides, they’ve got goals in Adebayo, credit to them as I gave them no chance.

"About a month ago I realised you shouldn’t doubt people without watching them and giving them a chance to adapt. The one thing it showed was when you go Luton, you’ve got to be at it and got to be ready. Brighton played beautifully against Sheff United, played them off the park and could have scored ten. They’ve turned up at Luton and done the classic and we’ve all done it, you turn up at somewhere and think you just have to turn up. The first goal after 20, 30 seconds, pop, pop, pop, they play out, they get robbed, get the ball stolen, one-nil down and that’s the mentality difference of the top team and top players.

"But credit to Luton as they went after them, went up early and they didn’t stop, they were relentless. It’s causing for teams above them like Everton, Palace, Forest, Brentford, because some of them would have been thinking those three promoted sides would be relegated, so there’s pressure on the other teams now because of Luton’s success. Especially when they move out of the bottom three, it’s a really good feeling, it does give you a sense of belief. But I don’t think they’re a group that seem to have the mentality or ego, of ‘we’ve made it,’ or ‘we’re better than we are.’ The manager wouldn’t let that happen anyway.”

Murphy wasn’t sure if it would be enough to stay in the top tier for a second season, but he now believes Town have a definite opportunity of doing what no-one gave them a prayer of achieving, as he continued: “I think they’ll be constantly in games from now to the end of the season. We don’t know whether they’ll stay up or not, we’ll wait and see but they’re not going to go out with a fight this lot. I never gave them a chance, now I give them a hell of a chance, but I still don’t know if they’ll have enough as the other teams around them have got capability.

"The bottom two (Sheffield United and Burnley) are gone, but with Everton, we don’t know what’s happening with the appeal on the points, we don’t know what’s happening with the charges. But Luton have given themselves with this win and jumping out of the bottom three, a real boost moving into the next few games.”

It was the same for fellow pundit Dean Saunders, the ex-Liverpool and Derby County striker quick to praise manager Rob Edwards, adding: “I had them down for relegation as well, so Rob Edwards for me is turning into a really intelligent, brilliant manager. He’s got the balance right in terms of hitting it direct, which got them out of the league below and playing football. He’s added some players, got a striker who scores and when you go to Luton, they make you defend. They don’t pass it sideways, across the back all afternoon and try and play through you. They get it on top of you and make you defend, and when you’ve got someone like Adebayo, you’ve got a chance haven’t you.

"They’ve won five games out of 21, five more wins gets them 34 points, you win 10 games, draw a few, that should keep you up. The secret is, if you’re only winning 10 games, you’ve got quite a few losses, it’s getting up on Monday morning, coming in for training and not leaving that disappointment in your body. You’ve got to get ready for the next one, as you know you’re going to get a slap in the face.”