Hatters boss will make a late call on whether Town skipper Lockyer can face Arsenal

Luton boss Rob Edwards will give Town captain Tom Lockyer as much time as possible to recover from his back injury ahead of the home Premier League clash with league leaders Arsenal tomorrow.

The 29-year-old was starting his 11th successive top flight match for the Hatters at Brentford on Saturday, taking a knee to the back in the opening 60 seconds of the contest.

Having received treatment, Lockyer soldiered on for the rest of the first half, producing a terrific individual display as the visitors kept their hosts at arm’s length, but then went down again on the stroke of half time and couldn’t continue.

In his absence, the Bees went on to take advantage of the hesitancy in Town’s reshuffled back-line, scoring twice in the first 11 minutes, as although Jacob Brown pulled one back, they added a third late on to complete what had been a comprehensive victory.

With the Gunners heading to Kenilworth Road for an 8.15pm kick-off on Tuesday, asked what the likelihood was of the Welsh international playing, Edwards said: “He was still feeling it (back), if you watch the game back he’s got another couple of whacks on it as well later on and right at the end, he had to backpedal quite quickly and really felt it defending the box. It’s right in that sore area at the bottom of the back, and it’s very, very tender.

“We’re still going to give him as much time as possible. His back is still sore, he wasn’t out on the grass today but we’re going to give him as much time as we can as obviously he’s an important player for us

“We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow, there’s still quite a few hours as it’s a later kick-off tomorrow night so we’ll give him time."

On whether he might need painkilling injections to get through the match, Edwards added: “Everything’s on the table at the moment. Locks is someone who’s willing to go through a lot of pain as well, but at the same time we need to have everyone right at it tomorrow.

"We don’t want to be risking anyone going into a really busy period, so we’ve got to make a really sensible decision.”