Edwards believes the pressure remains on Town's rivals in Premier League relegation battle

Luton boss Rob Edwards believes the pressure is still firmly on the other sides at the bottom of the table who are battling to stay in the Premier League this term despite the Hatters having a chance to climb out of the drop zone this evening.

Town head to AFC Bournemouth tonight in the knowledge that a win would see them leapfrog fourth bottom Nottingham Forest on goal difference, ahead of an absolutely huge game against the Reds at Kenilworth Road on Saturday. Victory also enables Luton to take advantage of their game in hand to cut the gap considerably on Everton and Brentford as well, both clubs still to visit Bedfordshire during the run-in.

On whether that will add any extra tension to his players preparations ahead of their trip to Vitality Stadium tonight, rearranged following Tom Lockyer’s on-field cardiac arrest back in December, Edwards said: “I actually think the other teams are still under more pressure to beat Luton Town, so I think we can go into the games still as underdogs.

"We go and fight and do what we do. I think there's still going to be less pressure on us than the opposition teams. We put our own internal pressure on here, we have our own expectations, our own beliefs, but us, the whole club and the supporters, we all know what we've got to do, so I don't think there'll be any added pressure for these two games.

“We know what the next couple of games mean, but we also know that if it doesn’t go right results-wise, we’re not out of it either. We can make some real strides, but even if we do, we know for the next nine games, it’s still strap in and make sure we’re right at it anyway. So it’s not defining, it’s just important as they all are.”

To put hopes of avoiding relegation into their own hands, Luton have to beat a Bournemouth side who have moved clear of any realistic danger themselves this term with a terrific run of form during November and December, winning six out of seven top flight encounters. Since the turn of the year though, the Cherries have found it tougher, with just one triumph from eight, that coming when beating Burnley 2-0 recently, although two of their three defeats have been against Manchester City and Liverpool.

Edwards knows with 14-goal frontman Dominic Solanke still in their ranks, Andoni Ireola’s side possess a huge threat, as he continued: “They’ve got outstanding players at the top end of the pitch and sometimes their quality, brightness, sharpness, cleverness, whatever it is, can outdo us, or outfox us. We’ll try and nullify mistakes and try to be bright and switched on in all moments of the game and try to push and make sure we’re getting the last goal.

“They’re a really good team, really good manager, very well coached, really good individual players and collectively as a team as well. They play with real intensity, a forward thinking, forward running, high pressing team that are energy and quality, especially at that top end of the pitch. We’ve got to make sure we’re right at it.

"It's an opportunity for us, but we know how difficult a game this is. They are very, very good, so we’re really looking forward to the next challenge. We were playing pretty well in the game down there before the incident. It was a close game, 1-1 at the time, so we’ll go there and give it absolutely everything.”

With Cauley Woodrow’s late, late goal in the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday, a point that ended a run of five straight successive defeats in all competitions for Luton, Edwards now wants his side to take the momentum gained from those final moments into the opening stages at the Vitality Stadium, as he said: “We need to be able to start the game in that way.

"We don’t want to be safe, we want to go for it, and we've done that for the vast majority of the season. It’s difficult for 100 minutes to be at it all the time, but we have to be. If we’re going to get the points required, we have to be at it and we have to have that intensity from the very beginning. So that has been the challenge and that was a big message that we spoke about.”

Although Luton had lost those matches in a row going into the game, Edwards didn’t for once think that affected the spirit within the squad, who were still remaining positive about their chances of staying up, as he added: “There was a lot of confidence in the group anyway, as I know we lost the game before against Aston Villa but we played so well, really well and pushed a top team all the way.

"If we’d been performing badly and not been getting results I think confidence could be lower but I don't see that in this group. I see a team that are full of energy, enthusiasm, belief and we’ve got to maintain that. We’re not going to get results now in every game for the rest of the season. We’re going to get more knocks and we’ve got to be able to deal with that, find a way to get enough results to get us above that line and keep us above that line.

"So it will hopefully garner more belief and allow us to build on that, because we played better in recent games and not got anything. The other day we weren't at our best, we certainly were not better than Palace, but the manner in which we equalised and it being so late, hopefully we can keep that momentum.”