England hopeful Barkley will play on for Luton with a broken nose at Bournemouth

Luton midfielder Ross Barkley will play through the pain barrier of a broken nose when Town head to AFC Bournemouth for their second Premier League clash in a three game week tomorrow evening.

The 30-year-old suffered the injury when heading for goal in the early moments of the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday, taking a nasty blow to the face which required lengthy treatment on the pitch, although he was able to be patched up and battle through to complete the full 90 minutes. Asked about his availability for the trip to the Vitality Stadium on Wednesday night, Edwards said: “I think he’s all right, he’s okay. It's broken, but he will be able to deal with it and not have to play in a mask. It was an option for him but I don’t think he wants to.”

The injury had an impact on Barkley’s display at Selhurst Park, as, like the rest of his team-mates, could never quite find his best form, although he still dug in to help Town go on to secure a point in stoppage time, one of a number of players looking to turn in Andros Townsend’s cross that Cauley Woodrow managed to tuck away. When addressing the injury in his post-match press conference, Edwards had said. “His schnoz is a bit fat, so I’ve just told him now he’s got down to an eight and a half out 10 (in looks).

“He did soldier on, I don’t think it was his best game, he kept going and I think he was in a lot of pain. I actually thought we started well and had a set-piece, that moment when Ross got hit, the couple of minutes that took to get him right and get him off the pitch, we didn't really recover from that. So after a positive start, I’m going to blame Ross for that!”

The game is also the last chance for Barkley to boost his claims for an England recall ahead of Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate naming his squad for the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium later this month on Thursday afternoon. Asked yet again if he felt the former Everton and Chelsea player, who has won 33 caps already, and is still eying a place in Southgate’s thoughts for the European Championships this summer, should be included, Edwards added: “It’s not my call, I think he’s done really well but it’s not my call.

“Every player wants to play for his country and it’s the most proud moment. Ross has done it a number of times, but again, all I really care about is how well he does for Luton and he’s done great for us.”