Hatters boss states Burnley are in a 'false position' ahead of Kenilworth Road meeting

Luton boss Rob Edwards insists that tonight’s opponents Burnley are in a ‘false position’ in the Premier League table following their winless start to the season.

After romping to the Championship title last season, finishing 10 points above Sheffield United in second and 21 clear of the third-placed Hatters, Vincent Kompany’s side are yet to emerge triumphant in the top flight this term.

Having splashed out huge fees to bolster their squad in the summer, including £19m on James Trafford and £15m on Sander Berge, plus the likes of Jordan Beyer (£13m), Aaron Ramsey (£12m) and Dara O'Shea (£7m), hopes were high that the Lancashire club could carry their impressive form into the top tier of English football.

It hasn't materialised yet though, Burnley beaten 3-0 by Manchester City, 3-1 by Aston Villa and hammered 5-2 by Spurs in their opening three matches, before registering a point in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.

The Clarets then lost 1-0 at home to Manchester United, also going down 2-0 to Newcastle United on Saturday, to sit second from bottom, only goal difference keeping them above Sheffield United.

However, Edwards believes the level of opposition they have faced so far means the team who romped to glory last campaign aren’t where they should be in the table.

He continued: “They've started the season well, they’ve had really, really difficult games, how many promoted teams come up and have 60-odd percent possession against Manchester United?

"They’re a really good team, they’ve improved from last year.

“They dominated the league last year, they were the best team by a country mile and they’ve improved, they’ve spent over 100 million which has been reported.

"Vincent’s a brilliant manager, really good staff, I think they’re in a false position at the moment.

“I know results-wise they might have had a difficult start, but trust me, they’re a good team.

"What they did in the Championship was very, very impressive and they have improved.

"They’ve had City, United, Villa, Newcastle, so it’s probably a little bit unfair to judge them on results alone, but their performances have been very good in all of them really, so I certainly think they can (stay up)."

Although Burnley were the stand-out team in the Championship last year, they didn’t have things all their own way when coming up against Luton, who under previous manager Nathan Jones held them to a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor in the second game of the season.

They then needed a late Ashley Barnes penalty to take an undeserved 1-0 victory at Kenilworth Road, as on whether they can take the manner in which they played that day into this evening, Edwards continued: “It’s a different time, slightly different teams, but there are similarities.

"We can take some confidence from that, we have looked back at the game as well, so you can take little bits and see little things that they might do, might change to.

"They’re very intelligent in how they play, the staff, they see the game well.

“They’ll probably have three, four, five different ways of trying to attack us and find spaces, try to shift us around.

"But we’re different as well from that team that played them in February.

"They can look at us now, we’ve probably done a few different things in the last few games, against different opposition.

"So we’ll have a slightly different plan to what we’ve had before as we’re a little bit of a different team now, but it was a really interesting game that.

"We limited their control in the game, as last year they pretty much controlled every game, and Vincent after the game said he would have liked to have played in the game as well because there was a bit going on.

"It’s another time now and we’ll see what the best way to go for us is and the best way to try and win the game.”

Asked just how much he felt both teams have had to change since that meeting as they now find themselves in a different division, Edwards added: “I’d like to think we both have, we certainly have.

"We’ve probably had to adapt and change a little bit more, that’s been done quite quickly, quite recently.

"Last year the way we played and the way we were able to churn the wins out, we were able to keep things quite similar and ‘go again lads, go again.’

"We were one of the stronger teams in the Championship, so probably didn’t have to change too much.

"This time, we probably have to adapt a little bit more, every game gives us something different to think about.

"We’re clearly not one of the stronger teams this year in the Premier League, so we have to think a lot differently.

"For every game we’re going to have to change and have a different game plan.”