Jones insists Luton will go to promotion favourites Norwich with a 'different mentality' after tame defeat during previous visit

Luton boss Nathan Jones insists his side will go to promotion favourites Norwich with a ‘different mentality’ to their last trip in the 2020-21 season.

Back in March 2021, and with no fans present due to Covid restrictions, the Hatters put in a tame effort at the Carrow Road, easily defeated 3-0, with Teemu Pukki’s double putting the hosts in control at the break, Todd Cantwell adding the third late on.

It was a world away from Luton’s previous visit to the Canaries in January 2013, when, as a non-league side, they had knocked their then top flight opponents out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 fourth round win courtesy of Scott Rendell’s famous winner.

Going into this evening’s clash, the Hatters’ 3-1 win over QPR on Saturday and Norwich’s 2-1 defeat at Watford means that should Town pull off a victory, they will go above their opponents now managed by Dean Smith and could potentially sit as high as third in the table.

With that in mind, Jones said: “We’ll go there with a different mentality, whether it’s confidence, whether it’s aggression, whether it’s hope, whatever it is, we go there with a different mentality.

"We went there when Daniel Farke was in charge and I’m not sure we believed we could beat them, I'm not sure it shows in the performance.

"We were a little bit more passive than I would have liked on the day, that’s one thing we won’t do this time.

"It wasn't until we were a couple down that we really showed that element of aggression, freedom to play, but we’re a different animal now.

"Norwich are the same as I’d take finishing one place above Norwich now, as I think if you do that you get promoted.

"They are a wonderful side, really experienced, good manager, excellent players, one of the strongest squads, if not the strongest squad in the division.

"So it'll be a real, real tough game, but it's going to be a tough game for them.”

With Luton’s match at the weekend having an early kick-off, it gave Jones the perfect opportunity to scout both City and Sunday’s opponents Watford as the pair went head to head at Vicarage Road live on Sky later in the evening, the Hornets claiming the points.

The manager continued: “It falls nicely, it’d be nice just to go home and watch Match of the Day and have a glass of wine but that won’t be the case.

"It’s a good opportunity to go and do that, but really tough two games to come, as Norwich will be a really tough game.”

With the Hatters now starting to hit some real form, unbeaten in six in the second tier for the first time since the end of the 2020-21 season, Jones hopes that it means a number of their opponents won’t fancy taking on his side, saying: “I hope not, but we can only do what we want to do.

"They (QPR) changed slightly today in terms of playing (Leon) Balogun at right back as they knew they needed that physicality and that’s only a good thing for us.

"I’m not saying they changed totally as they didn’t, they were still the fluent QPR, they got into difficult positions, (Ilias) Chair plays where he wants and is difficult to pick up as you can’t say to Henri (Lansbury) or a centre half ‘pick up Chair’, as he’ll drop into a left back position.

"So they’re very, very difficult to play against, but I thought we were disciplined in and around the box, stayed on our feet, went with runners, all the good things we wanted to do in midweek and worked on, we did.”

With tonight’s game the second in yet another three game week, with Luton facing a further seven fixtures in under a month before the campaign breaks for the World Cup Finals, Jones once more highlighted how unkind the schedule is to those sides below the Premier League, adding: “It’s a crazy league, 46 games crammed into a season which is probably six weeks shorter than it should be, it’s mental.

"People don’t realise and then you have some ridiculous World Cup in November and then that puts a little bit of pressure on everyone else.

"The Premier League is fine as 38 games you can adjust but when you’ve got 46 plus cup games, and when we got to the play-offs last year, it’s really really tough to do.

"This group are just putting in shifts, sometimes we pick up injuries, but the group are at it all the time and we have to do that.

"We’re an aggressive side, and I’m really proud of the group.

"Yes the week (ahead of the QPR game) helped us as it meant we could give them two days, Sunday and Monday then come back in Tuesday and get them again on Wednesday, then really go at it Thursday and Friday to be ready for today.

"There’s no rest, as I’ll be preparing for Norwich as it’s a crazy schedule.”