Town midfielder Chong will do his utmost for the Hatters in whatever role he is asked

Although determined to break back into the Hatters XI after a prolonged spell on the bench in recent weeks, Luton midfielder Tahith Chong will do his utmost for the club in whatever role he is asked to play during Town’s battle to stay up this season.

The 24-year-old had started just two Premier League games in the last five months after his £4m summer move from Birmingham City, with a further 12 outings off the bench, before being recalled to the team for the first time since the 3-1 defeat at Brentford in early December when beginning against his former side Manchester United on Sunday.

Despite it being tough not playing as much as he would have wanted at times, the former Dutch U21 international also knows there are others who are in the same boat as him, including forward Cauley Woodrow, who was making his first top flight start of the season at the weekend with Elijah Adebayo injured. He said: “When the gaffer needs me, whatever he needs from me, I’m going to try and do my best for the team, so it’s just going out there and try to do my best.

"I mean it’s not only me going through it, that’s something we have as a group as well in terms of subs coming on, not just me, other guys coming on as well who can change a game. I feel like that’s something you need in a group, whether I’m starting or coming on, whatever the gaffer needs me to do, I’ll try my best to do it.

"That’s just me, keep working hard and keep trying to do the right stuff for the team. My mentality doesn’t change whether it’s coming off the bench or starting. We have such a togetherness with the team and I’m not the only one sitting on the bench or having to come on. I think that’s been a plus for us, every time someone comes on to make an impact and that’s something we have to keep going.

“I thought Cauley worked his socks off, he had a very good game and that speaks volumes to the team as he’s not been playing a lot as well and not one single time has he been annoyed. So for him to come into the squad and do what he did shows the togetherness of the guys coming into the team.”

Starting against the side he joined as a teenager from Feyenoord, the midfielder caught the eye particularly in the first period, combining well with Alfie Doughty to set up the hosts’ goal, his shot deflecting up for Carlton Morris to head beyond Andre Onana. Boss Rob Edwards continued: “Chongy was industrious, he worked hard, busy, lively, all the things I wanted him to do. He caused them problems on the left side with his forward runs, and it allowed us to try and get some overloads against (Diogo) Dalot. He was involved in that goal for us, did everything that we wanted him to do, ran himself into the ground.”

Running the Red Devils so close in front of a viewing audience of millions with the game screened live on Sky Sports once more earned the Hatters plenty of plaudits, especially after falling 2-0 behind with just six minutes gone. It was something Chong would take into account once the frustration of the defeat had passed, as he said: “When you lose there is disappointment. I think we performed well enough to get something from the game, but it is tough to go down 2-0 so quickly. We fought back into the game and probably deserved something from the game.

“I think it's just the belief we have as a team, the tactics, when we go 2-0 down, we still have belief, still trying to do the right things to get back in the game. No matter who plays or what team is on the the pitch, we always have that belief as a team that we’re going to come back into this game. The coaching staff does a brilliant job to set us up as well and for us it’s just that never say die mentality.

"We want to keep that going and never let our heads down when stuff doesn’t go our way, and get our way back into the game. Now it’s tough to talk about as we’ve lost and you’re always disappointed, no matter who you play, you’re always disappointed when you lose.

"We’ll reflect on the positives and then look at the stuff we could have done better. It’s tough to say now how well we pushed them, as you want to win every game you play, but we’ve shown during the season that as a team we have that togetherness to keep fighting and come back into the game. I felt we did that and then dominated, I just felt like we could get something and should have really.”

Attempting to end their run of back-to-back defeats doesn’t come much harder than tonight for the Hatters, as they go to league leaders Liverpool, who have turned Anfield into something of a fortress with 10 wins and two draws from 12 games. However, Chong was remaining positive, adding: “It’s tough, but once you're in the Premier League I think every game is tough. We have to go there with self belief of trying to get something from they game.

“For us, our main focus is just on us and trying to get points. No matter who we play we know it’s the Premier League so no game is easy. For us we want to go there and try to keep going and try to keep getting points.”