Edwards knows Luton must give a 10 out of 10 display to earn 'greatest result of the century' at the Etihad

Luton boss Rob Edwards knows his players will have to produce a 10 out 10 performance if they are to pick up a shock victory at treble-chasing Manchester City tomorrow and register what he believes would be deemed as the ‘greatest result of the century’.

To achieve the feat, Town will have to do what no other side has managed to do in either domestic or European competitions since Brentford back on November 12, 2022, when Ivan Toney scored twice to ensure an away team emerged triumphant from the Etihad. With the run now spanning 18 months, it is why Luton are priced at 18/1 with SkyBet to extend their winning run to two, the hosts overwhelming favourites at 1/14.

Despite everything being against the threadbare Hatters, who could also be without 13 players for the match, Reece Burke and Teden Mengi both doubts, while Issa Kabore is ineligible against his parent club, Edwards was still remaining optimistic he will be celebrating at the full time whistle, saying: “If we get something from the game it could be the greatest result of the century with some of the problems we've got at the moment.

“It is some challenge and I don't want to sound defeatist but I do think it will be one of the greatest results ever if we go and win the game. But I do and we all believe this. I stand in front of them and do the meeting, we go through the gameplan, we’re going through it, I genuinely believe that we can go and do it and I feel that for every single game this year.

"The lads have gone and trained like it as well and we have to go with that mindset, it’s 11 men against 11 men, and anything can happen. They’re 11 supremely talented players, whoever he (Pep Guardiola) picks, we know that, but we’re well up for it, we’re really looking forward to it. We’re already depleted, it’s a huge challenge at the best of times, but the players that are available have been amazing and for them to be giving us what they’ve been giving us over this last month or so, as it has been tough, they deserve so much credit.

"They’re going to go and deliver again tomorrow, I know that, and the feeling around the place is really positive. We’ve trained like a team that believes they can go and get something, we’re in a situation we’re in and let’s go and try and attack the game. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s a privilege to play against them.”

”This will be the third time Town have come up against City this term as they were only narrowly defeated 2-1 in their league encounter at Kenilworth Road, having led through Elijah Adebayo’s towering header on the stroke of half time. A quickfire second half double from Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish enabled the blue half of Manchester to claim the points, before an FA Cup clash that wasn’t anywhere near as close in terms of scoreline, Erling Haaland netting five goals and Mateo Kovacic on target in a 6-2 success, Jordan Clark bagging a terrific brace for the hosts.

However, Edwards knows they got things wrong that day that he has been able to put right since, saying: “We know how devastating they are and how devastating they can be, but we took a lot from that last cup game. I know it might sound mad, we lost six-two, but we did a lot of things really well and it was a cracking game.

“Clearly without the ball we got some things wrong. We were really aggressive on that day, we created some good chances, but we obviously conceded too many as well, which can happen against that level of player. We went a little bit too literal on some of our man-for-man stuff and we got one or two things wrong. We’ve adjusted them and been better since, so in a way it was good that it happened, in a perverse way, I think that’s made us better.

“I think Villa (3-2 loss) was the next game and we were better for it. Where City have changed I think and where the game’s going, and more and more teams, not everyone does it, but we are one of the teams that will try and be aggressive and try and press, they drop and rotate and move now, try and create more spaces. City go longer now than they ever have done before as why wouldn’t you? A team’s giving you space there. We’ve just got to make sure we’re right, if we do press we can cover those longer passes well, the things we didn’t quite get right against them in the second game.

"But I think the players have reacted well to the changes, tweaks that we’ve made. It’s only tweaking and fine-tuning and we know we’re going to have to be brilliant at that tomorrow, as we don’t want them to have complete control. We want to try and do what we do, but when they do break the press or they go over it and miss it, we’ve got to get back and defend very well then.”

The last line of Town’s defence will be Thomas Kaminski, the Premier League’s second best goalkeeper when it comes to saves made, with 119 from his 32 outings, dropping behind Manchester United’s Andre Onana in standings over the last week. Edwards expects that number to be boosted if Hatters are to achieve their dream of a huge three points in the battle to stay up, adding: “We believe that we’ve got a good plan, we know going into any game against Manchester City, at their place, you’ve got to be able to defend well. We’re going to need everyone to be a nine, nine point five, ten out of ten to get something from the game.

"We’re probably going to have to ride a bit of luck, Thomas will probably have to make some saves, if we’re going to get something from the game, but what we’ve tried to lean on is our experiences at Arsenal the other week, when we were a depleted group. Especially in that second half, there was a really good performance there, so we can go there with confidence and belief we can do something, but recognising we’re going up against one of the best teams in the world, one of the most difficult challenges in world football at the moment to go there.

"They’re a brilliant team, probably the greatest manager of all time and a wonderfully talented group of players, whoever he plays, they’re all world class. Football is a strange game, of course they’re massive favourites, but we can go there with a belief and a confidence that stranger things have happened.