Town midfielder declares Luton 'need to win' against Crystal Palace

Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark knows Saturday’s home game against Crystal Palace is one that the Hatters ‘need to win’ in order to boost their chances of avoiding relegation from the Premier League this term.

Although the season is just 12 games old, Town have managed six points in that time, as they sit a place outside the relegation zone after Everton dropped into the bottom three following their 10-point deduction for a breach of financial regulations last week.

Luton are yet to triumph on home soil though, with two draws and three defeats, but they won’t get a better chance for a while with the visit of an Eagles side who have lost three out of four, and five out of nine to sit in 13th spot.

Roy Hodgson’s side did however triumph 2-0 at Burnley and also win 1-0 at Manchester United during that run, as a now fit-again Clark knows that with Town welcoming Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle United before Christmas, along with Chelsea on December 30, then victory on Saturday is imperative.

He said: “It’s so enjoyable to look at the fixtures and you think you know what, look at these teams we’re playing in a few weeks, it’s great.

"The international break is a bit of a killer for myself personally as you’re just back in the team a little bit and then you break again, while for the lads, you get a little bit of momentum and then you've got to stop again for a week.

"It’s not ideal, but it will give the lads a little bit of a rest and then we’ve got a massive game at home against Palace.

"I’m sure it will be an unbelievable atmosphere and it’s a massive game that we need to win.”

Despite Luton yet to keep a clean sheet so far this term, they still have the best goal difference (-12) out of their fellow promoted clubs, with Burnley and Sheffield United both on -21, while fifth bottom AFC Bournemouth are on -16.

Having conceded just once against each of Spurs, Liverpool and Manchester United, gaining a wonderful point when Jurgen Klopp’s side came to Kenilworth Road, Clark knows that could prove so vital come the business end of the campaign, as he continued: “It’s massive.

"Shipping a lot of goals is not good when you’re fighting for lives at the bottom, but what we set out to do is we work as hard as we can as an 11 to try and keep the ball out of our own net as much as we can.

"We’re doing really well at the minute, but we’ve just got to be a bit more ruthless in the final third and once we start doing that I’m sure we’ll start picking up some more points.”

Following an injury that kept him out for the early stages of the season, Clark was finally able to experience just what the Premier League has to offer for the first time last weekend when coming on at Old Trafford for the last 20 minutes.

On what the step-up from life in the Championship was like, he added: “They just don’t waste the ball the top teams and very rarely they waste passes.

"You can’t make a mistake as nine times out of 10 you’re going to get punished.

"Thomas (Kaminski) made an unbelievable save in the first half, and they had a couple of chances in the second half, but you’ve got to be so good with the ball.

"Then when your chance comes, take it, because you might find the next 10, 15 minutes you might not see the ball for a lot of the time.”