Watson handed Championship debut for Luton as Edwards targets third win from three at Huddersfield

Luton boss Rob Edwards has made two changes for Town’s first match of 2023 at Huddersfield this afternoon.

Young midfielder Louie Watson is handed his full Championship debut in place of the injured Jordan Clark, while Elijah Adebayo returned for Harry Cornick, from the side who beat QPR 3-0 on Thursday night.

Luke Freeman missed out on the bench with a knock, meaning Casey Pettit was included in the squad, along with Reece Burke for the first time since September 30.

Meanwhile, Edwards has targeted making it three wins from three games over the festive period at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The Terriers had been in terrible form recently but recovered to, like Luton, post back-to-back victories in the Christmas period, when winning 2-1 at Preston North End and seeing off Rotherham United 2-0.

It has seen Mark Fotheringham’s side climb off the bottom of the table to now sit just two points away from safety, but Edwards, whose Luton team can jump back into the play-offs with victory said: “Every game is a massive challenge.

"We’ve got to recover and go again, it’s difficult, we’ve got to look at the bodies and see where we’re at, see whose recovered well.

"We might have to make a few more changes, but we’re confident whoever we put out at the moment is in good form and ready to do well for the team.

"It’s fantastic to get two wins in quick succession, we want three.”

After taking over from Nathan Jones in November, Edwards had to wait just under a month for his first competitive fixture, that a 2-1 loss at Middlesbrough.

Having claimed six points from six, when asked if he had set a points tally that he wanted from such a busy week, he continued: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t put a target on it.

“I did before we started the games.

"We did talk about trying to get into that top six before the new year was out, obviously we had a game called off in that time, so it might have scuppered those plans.

“We’ve just got to go again, focus on the next game, it’s a boring cliche I know that, but that’s all we can do.”

“We just need to believe in ourselves a bit more, we can have a touch and we can play and when we do that, we look a good team.”

Terriers: Lee Nicholls, Jonathan Hogg, Jordan Rhodes, Will Boyle, Josh Ruffels, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, David Kasumu, Duane Holmes, Jack Rudoni, Tom Lees, Michal Helik.

Subs: Nicholas Bilokapic, Sorba Thomas, Etienne Camara, Danny Ward, Tyreece Simpson, Brahima Diarra, Loick Ayina.

Hatters: Ethan Horvath, Alfie Doughty, James Bree, Tom Lockyer, Dan Potts (C), Amari'i Bell, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Allan Campbell, Louie Watson, Elijah Adebayo, Carlton Morris.

Subs: Harry Isted, Luke Berry, Harry Cornick, Cauley Woodrow, Reece Burke, Casy Pettit, Cameron Jerome.

Referee: Matthew Donohue.