Hatters chief looking to 'land a blow' on relegation rivals Burnley

Luton boss Rob Edwards is looking to try and ‘land a blow’ in the fight to remain a Premier League club this season by beating one of their main rivals when Town travel to Burnley tonight.

The Hatters go into the game one place above the Clarets in the table, but with a four point advantage over their hosts after both sides have naturally found it tough since winning promotion from the Championship last term, Vincent Kompany’s side reaching 101 points to finish as runaway champions. However, they have struggled to adapt in the same manner Luton have, with just two wins all term and 15 defeats as opposed to the Hatters’ four victories and 12 losses.

A triumph for the Hatters would not only see Town move out of the bottom three by going above Everton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, but stretch the gap over their Lancashire opponents to a daunting seven points. Speaking about the possibility of making that a reality, Edwards said: “Clearly if we were able to do that then psychologically for us it would be brilliant as when you lose any game it’s disappointing. So we can land a blow, but at the same time there’s still loads of time left to recover from that as well and pick up a lot more points.

"They’ll be seeing it the other way around as well, that they can do that. They've beaten us twice, this year and last year, so I’m sure they’ll be going into the game confident they can get a result as well, but if we are able to, then it will be a big one for us. We see every game as an opportunity to get three points and this is the next one. If we do then great, we can jump up a little bit for a few hours at least anyway, but there’s a long way to go this season.

"It is just concentrate on this next one, but it's a good challenge for us, certainly. This is a really difficult game and we’ve got to perform well otherwise we’ve got no chance, as Burnley have hurt a lot bigger and better teams than us this year and they've been close in a lot of games. We concentrate on the performance and hopefully the result will look after itself, but I think they’re ready to show they can compete against anyone.”

With Luton locked in a mini league to stay up this term, which could conceivably go as high as Crystal Palace in 14th, who are just six points ahead of Edwards’ side, having played a game more. So far, the Hatters have taken 10 points from a possible 18 from matches involving those six teams, beating the Eagles, Everton and Sheffield United, while hitting back from 2-0 down to draw with Nottingham Forest, although they did lose 2-1 to Burnley back in October. Edwards appreciated the added value of looking to continue that form, as he continued: “If the results come against anyone then happy days, but there is an extra significance on that mini league, because you do want to try and take the points off each other.

"They took three off us early on and we want to try and return the favour if we can, but we have done all right. The points that we’ve picked up, a lot have been against the teams around us so far, and we’ll continue to try and do it in every game, but we recognise the importance of this one. We only do that (drag more teams into the battle) if we pick up the points, as far I’m aware there’s only a couple of teams who have hit the 40 point mark in the league, so there’s probably a couple who are safe. We’ll concentrate on ourselves, but in doing that hopefully then we can make one or two a little bit nervy.”

The hosts’ home form has been a particular concern this season, with one victory, that a stunning 5-0 success over Sheffield United, although the Blades were reduced to 10 men when Oli McBurnie was sent off in the first half. However, they have lost their other nine matches, scoring just five times and conceding 24 goals in that time, at an average of 2.66 per game.

Edwards insisted Luton can attempt to use the Clarets’ poor results at Turf Moor to their advantage, although wasn’t sure he could take a high-scoring contest should it materialise, adding: “We always try and do that away from home, it’s a challenge in this league, but we’ll try. Again, we’ll try and be the best version of us which will quieten them down and give us a bit of confidence and belief, but that’s what we try and do in every away game. If we allow them to start fast like they did against Sheffield United and score in 14 seconds then it’s difficult, so we’ve got to make sure that we start fast, are concentrating and certainly the message is always to start well.

“We go in with a plan and like any, it’s to try and keep the opposition out and try and score as many as we can, so that will be the plan again. Across the Premier League there’s a lot more goals, there’s more than last year, teams are perhaps going for it more, taking more risks, worse defending, I don’t know. I hope it’s an entertaining game, but not the old four threes, I’m not sure I can handle all those things.”