Jones could opt for youth against Villa in the EFL Cup

Hatters boss Nathan Jones would have no issue in throwing one of his youngsters into the fray at left back when Championship side Aston Villa visit Kenilworth Road in the EFL Cup on Wednesday evening.
Alan Sheehan was forced off before kick-off at PlymouthAlan Sheehan was forced off before kick-off at Plymouth
Alan Sheehan was forced off before kick-off at Plymouth

With Alan Sheehan expected to miss out through injury and Dan Potts suspended, then Akin Famewo, who penned his first pro deal at the club over the summer, or James Justin, could come into contention for the first round fixture.

Jones might also opt to alter the shape of his side too, but when asked if Town’s young guns were in consideration, he said: “Anyone in our squad can play. We’ve got 20 players now and because I can rely on anyone of those 20 players, there’s not anyone I can’t.

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“So it just depends how we decide to go, how we think they’re going to set up and so on, and what we feel would be the best to implement our game plan on them

“We’ll have a look. Today was a recovery day, we’ll speak to the staff and we’ll have a few ideas of what we can do.

“It’s ironic that both left backs have gone down and Dan will be suspended, but we’ve got a strong enough squad that can cope with that so we’ll be okay, it’s just what we do and what kind of way we set up.”

On the extent of the injury to Sheehan, who was forced off before the kick-off at Home Park on Saturday, with Scott Cuthbert taking his place, Jones continued: “He’s just got a bit of stiffness in his calf so we didn’t take any chances really.

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“He’s important to us, important to how we play, so we’ve just pulled him out. He’ll have a scan today and assess that and hopefully it’s nothing and he can kick on, but we’ll know more later.”

Meanwhile, when asked about the decision to dismiss Potts, after watching the replay again, Jones added: “I don’t really know what it’s for, so I’m going to have to wait for the referee’s report before I comment on that.

“I don’t know if it’s for the tackle, it’s definitely not for anything after as he didn’t do anything apart from get thrown to the ground by their player.

“The only thing I can think is it’s the challenge and he deemed it a late challenge, or he deemed that he didn’t quite get the ball.

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“But I don’t know, because he didn’t do anything else, didn’t kick the ball away, didn’t react, was thrown to the ground.

“So I don’t know what the referee was thinking. If he did give it for that, then that’s fine, but I’ll mark the referee accordingly because I have my own opinions on the referee’s performance and the linesman’s.”