Places still up for grabs as Hatters boss ponders his XI for 'momentous occasion' at Brighton

​​Luton boss Rob Edwards has revealed there are still one or two spots up for grabs when he chooses his XI for what will be a ‘momentous occasion' as Town kick off their Premier League campaign at Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend.

After what feels like an age since they beat Coventry City in the play-off final at Wembley to reach the promised land, the Hatters are gearing up for what will be their first top flight game in almost 30 years at the Amex Stadium.

To get themselves as ready as possible for the obvious step-up in quality, Luton played six pre-season matches in preparation, wins over Vfl Bochum, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough United, plus draws against Ipswich and Wolves, with one loss to Bochum during Saturday’s double-header.

Picking two sides, the first, and more experienced, beaten 2-1 by their Bundesliga hosts at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, Luton’s second team saw a number of younger players involved, including Aidan Francis-Clarke and Josh Odell-Bature, as Luke Berry’s double ensured a 3-1 victory.

Elijah Adebayo and Cauley Woodrow both also started for the visitors and asked if he had been given him some selection dilemmas going into their south coast excursion this weekend, the boss said: “They knew there were areas of the first game we could have done better in and we were able to talk about that and say what we were looking for in the second game as well.

"I thought there was a greater intensity at times.

"The work-rate of Eli and Cauley, they made themselves difficult to play against, Bez with a couple of goals, there was some good stuff in both games, but I think one or two will be thinking okay, as I don’t know the team fully yet.

"There are spots that are available and we’ll see what business we’re able to do in this last week going into the game, but overall I feel like we're in a decent place going into a really difficult but exciting first fixture.

"We’ve got a full week and then we just get the right load in, the right work in, Monday through to Saturday.

"It’s up to us to make sure we get that bit right.

"They’ve been pushed and worked hard throughout pre-season, they’ve all given everything, it’s been good to get good minutes into a lot of players.

"The vast majority now have had at least one 90, some have had up to three or four and we'll be ready to go and ready to run as we're going to need to.”

On just how crucial the build-up will be to taking on a Brighton side managed by Roberto De Zerbi who finished sixth last season, also qualifying for the Europa League as well, Edwards continued: “It’s a really important week, they’re all going to be important weeks now, the five previous ones since we’ve come back, and every one now until the end of the season.

“They're going to be big, big weeks, we're going to have to manage them right.

"They’re going to be incredibly hard and we're all going to be learning, q uickly, but I’m really excited and I think we all are.

"It’s a momentous occasion for the football club isn’t it?

"We’ve all got to enjoy it and I know that they (supporters) are, we are, but we want to go and be competitive and give a good account of ourselves against a top team.”