Edwards feels Luton have become 'more streetwise' ahead of Clarets return fixture

Luton boss Rob Edwards believes that the Hatters have become a little bit more ‘streetwise’ from their 2-1 defeat to Burnley at Kenilworth Road back in October ahead of the return fixture at Turf Moor this evening.

At the time, Town had gone into the home game against the Clarets in high spirits having taken four points out of a possible six, winning 2-1 at Everton to follow up a 1-1 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, a first half in which Vincent Kompany’s side dominated, saw the visitors take the lead through Lyle Foster’s clinical strike on the stroke of half time, racing through the middle to beat Thomas Kaminski. Town were then by far the better side in the second period, Elijah Adebayo equalising with six minutes to go, his first of the campaign, sparking scenes of bedlam in the stands and also the dug-out.

No sooner had thoughts started to turn to a potential victory in the closing stages though, the Clarets were then back ahead, Jacob Bruun Larsen cutting in from the right flank to curl a magnificent effort beyond Kaminski and into the top corner to claim all three points. Burnley were then expected to push on following that success and show the kind of form that saw them romp to the Championship title, but they haven’t been able to do so, winning just two more matches, suffering 12 defeats from their 15 top flight fixtures.

Luton meanwhile have become a far tougher proposition, with three wins, two draws and seven losses in the same period, which sees them sit third from bottom in the table, four points above Burnley. On the difference between the side that took to the field over three months ago to now, Edwards said: “We’re a little bit more experienced, maybe a little bit more streetwise. Form as well is important and I think we’re confident, I think we’re in good form, so we can take that into the game as well, but the big thing now is we’ve got a bit more of an understanding of the level and what is required to at least compete and be difficult to beat or to get points, so probably a little bit more streetwise now.”

Asked what he felt he could take from that first game though ahead of their second meeting, Edwards continued: “It was close, we could really compete with them, but if you’re going to press aggressively against them then you've got to get your timing right. We got done with that for the first goal and then a couple of moments before that as well when our timing was a little bit off and they can play through you if you get it wrong, but it showed that we can compete with them as well. We’ve had a couple of really tight games against them, but it showed we can hurt them as well. The second half performance especially was really encouraging that day.”

Although he has only scored once more since then, Clarets striker Foster remains the main threat for the hosts after returning to action following a break in November when he revealed he was underoing issues with his mental well-being. The South African international is a slight doubt for the match having gone off at half time in the 1-0 FA Cup loss to Spurs last Friday, as speaking about the £11m striker, Edwards said: “He is really important. I think he’s a fantastic player, quick, powerful, technically I think really good but getting better and better all the time as well, so a real threat. They can go into him, miss it out and go over as well, so someone that we’ve got to be aware of.”

Even if he doesn’t feature though, the Luton chief knows Burnley are an extremely capable side despite their struggles so far, adding: “They can control a game very well but they’ll look to unbalance you, look to get behind you quickly, at every opportunity. They’ve got real weapons and speed on that top line. They’ve got a number of different ways to try and build and move you about, create different shapes in terms of their build up as well.

"They’ve got a little bit more variation in their play, if you do come on to them they can miss it quickly and they've got some good movements and ways of breaking that down, so they’re quite a complicated team to play against certainly. If we’re not at our best, we lose the game, that’s just simple. We’ve got to make sure we’re at it in the Premier League to get anything from any game, so we’ll look after ourselves, as away from home, every game is hard."