Luton chief has no preference over facing Toffees or Eagles as he relishes Premier League FA Cup test

Luton boss Rob Edwards is happy to be coming up against a fellow top flight side in the FA Cup fourth round having beaten League One Bolton Wanderers 2-1 during their third round replay last night.

The Hatters had been held to a goalless draw by the Trotters at Kenilworth Road earlier this month, before heading to the Toughsheet Stadium yesterday evening in a bid to book their place in the next stage. They managed to do that courtesy of goals from Tahith Chong and Chiedozie Ogbene to set up a tie at either Everton or Crystal Palace, who face each other in their replay at Goodison Park tonight.

Asked if he had a preference as to which side Town would be facing, Edwards said: “No, not at all. I think in a way it’s better for us to play a Premier League team in the next round. We know we’re going to be full tilt, we have to be full tilt, and that’s when we’re at our best.

“I’m not saying they’re a small team, Bolton are a big, big football club and tonight we just dropped. These last couple of games we dropped a little bit and we can’t do that, so we’re really pleased we’re playing a Premier League team in the next round.”

With Luton now having a game a week on Saturday, ahead of hosting Brighton & Hove Albion in midweek and then travelling to Newcastle United three days later, Edwards was confident his squad could cope with a potential FA Cup adventure.

He added: “We did have to manage a few tonight, we took Sambi (Lokonga) out of the squad to manage him, Amari’i (Bell), Teden (Mengi), Alfie (Doughty). There were a few that needed half a game for some and tried to manage the group. We want to try and win every football match we go into, I genuinely mean that. It is good for us for momentum, for confidence, for belief, but we’re actually in quite decent form.

“We know we’re not going to win every game, but I like us at the moment. We have performed a lot better in recent games and not got something out of it, tonight we found a way to win and that was the most important thing.”