Edwards will put the pressure on his Town players ahead of massive three game week

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted that he and his coaching staff are putting the pressure on Town’s players to give their hopes of staying in the top flight a real shot in the arm ahead of one of the biggest weeks in their Premier League season.

Town’s trio of matches against teams in the bottom half of the table over the next seven days begins in South London this afternoon as they head to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace side who are eight points better off than the visitors having played a game more. They then go to AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, the Cherries at home to rock bottom Sheffield United today, a victory for the hosts taking them up to 34 points, and on the verge of safety.

Meanwhile, Luton then entertain Nottingham Forest in a massive clash at Kenilworth Road next weekend, the Reds, who go to Brighton & Hove Albion tomorrow, four points ahead of Town, having played a game more, but, like Everton, with the threat of a points decision hanging over them too. With trips to Spurs, Arsenal and Manchester, plus the return fixture at home to Bournemouth following this period of games, Edwards knows they have to boost their tally now if they are to realistically look at giving themselves any chance at all of staying up.

He said: “We are putting that pressure on the boys in a way that doesn’t mean if we don’t do it we’re panicking and we’re done, that’s it. We can’t go about it in that way, but we all recognise the importance of this week. We had a really good period after Christmas and January, we had a tough February and now we need to try and get some points back on the board and the next games represent the chance to do that. Without piling on the pressure to the lads, we all know what it means, so we’ll go and give it everything.

"You have to try and find that sweet spot. In the past we’ve talked about winning weeks and we did that last time against Palace, we put the pressure on them a little bit more. They responded quite well last year when we were going for promotion, big, big games, play-off games, everyone knows what’s on the line there. In the past we’ve responded well to pressurised situations and big games, but it’s the here and the now, the next game and we’ve got to go and deliver now.”

With nine precious points up for grabs, asked if he had set his side a target going into the week, as Town then have a fortnight off following their match with Forest, Edwards continued: “Not a target, we want to go into all of them, we want to try and win them all, so (being on) 29 would be great, but we know how difficult that is as well. We haven’t set a target, but we’ve set our own little aim which I’m not going to share now, going into that international break and the players are on board with it as well.

"Like everyone, we’ve got injuries but I like the team that we’re going to be able to put out and the squad. We are going to challenge them and we are going to look to try and win all three of the games, but we know that's going to be very difficult to do. We haven’t strung three wins in a row in the Premier League yet, we’ve managed to do a couple, but a big, big week coming up. The players can see we are improving, but it has to transmit to points now, it has to happen in this next block of games really. Performance is the most important thing, as that’s where we’re going to hopefully get the results on the back of that.”

Although highlighting the importance of the next week, with a dozen matches still to play, five at home and seven on the road, Edwards doesn’t believe Luton are in must-win territory yet, as they still have a number of teams within reach, including Brentford, the Bees at Arsenal this evening. He added: “We know that every game, they ramp up, the importance grows. This is the next game, this is the most important one. It’s not must win as it doesn’t relegate us if we don’t win, but clearly we’re in a better position if we do or we can take something from the game. We do recognise the importance of it, we’ve spoken about that openly. Whenever we’ve challenged the players in the past they’ve responded really well, so we know it’s a huge game, but they all are, 12 huge games coming up.