Arsenal loanee could start for Luton at Bournemouth as Town are without the suspended Nakamba

Luton boss Rob Edwards could consider handing on-loan Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambki Lokonga a start in place of Marvelous Nakamba for the trip to AFC Bournemouth tomorrow with the Zimbabwean international missing due to suspension.

The 29-year-old picked up his fifth booking of the season during the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday meaning he has to sit out the Premier League fixture at the Vitality Stadium. With Lokonga now fully fit after recovering from the hamstring injury which had blighted his time at Kenilworth Road, the Belgian international was able to play the last 20 minutes at the weekend in place of Nakamba who was substituted.

Asked if he was now a possibility to replace his team-mate in the starting line-up on the south coast, Edwards said: “Potentially. We’ve got Pelly (Mpanzu) and Clicks (Jordan Clark) in that area, so I’ve got really good options and a decision to make, but I’m really confident with whoever I go with will be able to perform and give us what we need for this game.

"They’re going to need energy, but we want quality, because we know we’re going to be pressed, really aggressively as well. We’ve got to be able to take the ball, be really brave, but I feel all three of those players are capable of doing that.”

Being without Nakamba who has the most tackles in a Luton shirt this season, sitting eighth in the Premier League with 40 to his name, and was also absent for three games after a knee injury suffered on international duty recently, is a loss for Edwards though, who continued: “Fair play to Marv as I don’t think he was fully, fully fit (against Manchester City), it is a big blow that he’s missing as we do miss him, but it gives an opportunity to someone else.

"We’ve always said that, we’ve never made excuses if we’re missing players. We’ve got a squad that we fully believe in as it gives someone else a chance.”

When the midfielder is back for the home game with Newcastle United a week on Saturday, quizzed on whether the duo could play in the same side as Ross Barkley, who has been simply outstanding in recent weeks, Edwards added: “Potentially, we’ve got some really good options to be able to tweak shape or change things a little bit. Against certain teams we might want to play someone different in that top line, there might be different areas of space.

"It gives us really good options and as a manager you want to have your best players out there playing together. Those that you talked about are really, really key for us so it does give us some good options.”