Barkley in contention for Spurs as Hatters boss eyes attacking role for ex-Everton midfielder

Town’s former England international midfielder Ross Barkley is available for the Hatters’ home Premier League contest against Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow.

The summer signing moved to Kenilworth Road in the summer, starting the top flight encounters with Chelsea and then West Ham, but a hamstring injury in training saw him missing for fixtures with Fulham, Wolves, Exeter and his old side Everton.

He is back in the running to take on a club he came close to signing for when at Goodison Park in 2017, Spurs then managed by Mauricio Pochettino, as Edwards said: “He can feature now, he’s fit, he’s been training, he’s part of the squad.”

Luton have operated a double pivot in their midfield recently, with Albert Sambi Lokonga signed on loan from Arsenal to take on that role alongside Marvelous Nakamba, only for the Belgian international to also suffer a hamstring problem.

It has seen Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu deployed in a deeper role against both Everton and Burnley on Tuesday night, and asked whether he thought it was a position Barkley could potentially play in during Lokonga’s extended spell on the sidelines, Edwards added: “I think he is slightly more attacking Ross if we’re going to get the best out of him, but he can do that no doubt about it.

"He’s got the quality on the ball, can see the pass, but I would like to have him further forward, so any one of those four along there if we’re playing that shape.

"Once we’ve got everyone right we have got options to change things in other ways as well and Ross can play behind a striker, which is probably his best position.

"We’ve got some good options there, even if we want to in game, tweak things again, so it’s really good to have him back out on the grass.”