Town defender Burke has full belief Luton can make a 'statement' and stay in the Premier League

​Town defender Reece Burke fully believes the Hatters can make a ‘statement’ in the Premier League and prove all the doubters wrong by avoiding relegation back to the Championship.

Luton are gearing up for a first campaign in the top flight of English football since the 1991-92 season, with not many outside of Bedfordshire anticipating they will avoid the drop.

The fact they are being written off at this stage is of no surprise to a confident Burke though, who felt that had been the case when they were trying to reach this level last term anyway.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of the Prem.

"We’ve got a great bunch of lads, great staff and everyone around Luton.

"I know there’ll be a lot of doubters out there, but I really believe we can put a statement in this league and I do believe we can stay in the league.

"That’s the aim, and I think with a great team and a great bunch of lads, there’s no reason why I’d doubt us.

"I think you can go back to last season, a lot of people do doubt Luton, but we always come out on top, so that’s the main thing.”

Burke is one of the few players in Town's current squad that have Premier League experience under their belts, having played six times for West Ham when he was just 18 in the 2014-15 season.

Although struggling with injuries at times during his spell with the Hatters, restricted to just 15 league starts last term, he now can’t wait to get fit and stay fit to experience the challenge of taking on some of the top players once more.

The centre half continued: “I’ve been working since the season finished and it’s (time at Luton) been difficult, it’s been up and down.

"The most frustrating thing for me is when I’m fit and I’m playing, I feel like I do well, so it’s just about keeping fit and keeping that going.

"There's things that I'm working on and this break has been really good for me.

"I’ll be back pre-season, fit and raring to go.

"I’m really looking forward to the challenge in the Prem, really looking forward to coming up against top quality players, some of the best players in the world.”

​Burke is a big reason why Luton are in their top flight this term, after his wonderful display at Wembley in the play-off final against Coventry City when coming on to replace Tom Lockyer after Town’s skipper worryingly collapsed on the pitch inside the opening 10 minutes.

Despite precious little first team football in the build-up due to another nagging injury, the centre half excelled in his extended run-out that saw the Hatters triumph after extra-time via a penalty shootout.

On his efforts, Burke added: “I had to be mentally prepared, I felt great, even though I knew I wasn’t starting the game.

"In the warm up, the atmosphere, I was just really buzzing.

"Obviously it was a shame what happened to Locks and I say it all the time, he’s been great all season, he’s been a big part in what we achieved.

"The main thing for me was trying to fill that spot, I wanted to come on and show people how good I am, and that was the main thing in my head.

“So I was proud of the way the game went, how I played, and we managed to get promoted, which was brilliant.

"It was difficult, it was tough, coming on so early but I just did the basics well, built into the game and I was really pleased.

"I had only played 45 minutes previous to that with the injuries, so to be able to get on a big game like that and do well, I was really proud of myself.”