Town CEO labels top flight opener against Brighton as 'relatively kind' for Luton

Hatters chief executive Gary Sweet has described Luton’s opening Premier League fixture of the season at Brighton & Hove Albion as a ‘relatively kind’ opener to top flight football for his side.

Town will travel down to the south coast for what will be their first ever trip to the Amex on Saturday, August 12, where they will take on a Seagulls side who finished sixth last season, earning a spot in the Europa League.

Despite their terrific campaign, Roberto De Zerbi’s side don’t make up what is traditionally known as the ‘top six’ clubs, Luton only playing Chelsea and Spurs from that group in their first 10 games, before they then come up against Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City in four of the next six.

Speaking to Sky Sports, when giving his thoughts on the first contest, Sweet said: “Relatively kind I think, it could have been much worse.

"I was at the conference down in Hampshire with other Premier League clubs and other clubs telling me about their nightmare first three or four fixtures when they started the campaign for the first time, so we're really delighted with that."

The Hatters have a 100 percent record against Brighton in the top flight, winning 4-2 at the Goldstone Ground back in January 1983, as they also thrashed their opponents 5-0 at Kenilworth Road that season too.

Sweet continued: “And we beat them in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy (on Town’s way to winning the competition in 2009), that’s the last thing I remember.

"It will be great to go to Brighton, give the fans a great day out in the sunshine hopefully and they’ll enjoy it.

"It’s a friendly club Brighton, we were with them this week, and it's a great opener.

"They’re a fantastic model, not just the way they run the business, but the stadium development that they’ve done and the way they’ve transformed the town and the city has been terrific.

"It is an example to us, clearly we'll need to do things very differently, we want to do things very differently here, but we’ve got to look at examples like Brighton and Brentford and what they’ve delivered.”

Luton’s first home game of the season will be against fellow newly-promoted side Burnley, who won the Championship under Vincent Kompany’s leadership last season.

The former Manchester City and Belgium defender was highly complimentary of his Kenilworth Road experience following the Clarets’ 1-0 victory back in February, as Sweet added: “Vincent quite likes coming here, he told us he likes this place, he might be one of the few!

"We're good friends with Burnley having travelled through the Championship with them last season and seen what excellent progress they’ve made as well on their bounce back.

"It’s another one to look forward to and two fixtures you’d look at and be happy with.”