Hatters chief not surprised to see Blackburn force their way into contention for automatic promotion

Luton boss Nathan Jones isn’t surprised to see today’s opponents Blackburn Rovers catapult themselves into genuine contenders for automatic promotion this year.

With Tony Mowbray now the longest serving manager in the Championship, coming up to five years in the job month, he has often talked about taking the club back to the Premier League for the first time since they were relegated back in 2012.

Finishes of 15th, 11th and 15th in the last three years didn’t really match up with the ambitions, but it appears this year could turn into the one, with Rovers sitting second in the table, three points above Bournemouth, albeit having played a game more.

It had looked anything but for Mowbray's after a 7-0 home defeat against Fulham in early November, but they have responded magnificently, winning nine out of 12, drawing two and losing just once to trail the league leaders by five points.

On their ambitions of going up, Jones said: "They’ve had real continuity and they’ve always been a real good side.

"I’ve always thought they, with the greatest of respect, have probably slightly under achieved as they’re a good side and a dangerous side.

"Maybe certain things that have cost them that they’re now doing better, but they're a real potent force.

"They always have been a real dangerous side to play against, they’ve always played a real good way.

"We knew when we played them in the final game of the season (July 2019), we looked at them and thought 'this is a tricky game,' in terms of one of the last games you want to stay up as they weren’t playing for anything at the time.

"They have so much quality and a real fluency about them, so we know we always have tough games against them.

"But they’re always good games and always good tests and we like that here, to have those tests, that’s why we wanted one, to get to this division and two, we don't want to stop.”

One of the main players behind their recent run, striker Ben Brereton-Diaz won’t be in action at Kenilworth Road today, due to his international involvement with Chile.

The former Nottingham Forest youngster has 20 goals in 27 games so far, with only Aleksander Mitrovic at Fulham netting more.

However, Rovers still have Sam Gallagher, so often a thorn in the side of Luton in recent years, plus on-loan Brighton winger Reda Khadra, with influential midfielder Joe Rothwell looking to return as well.

Jones continued: “It’s going to be a very difficult game.

"We’ve had some real good games against Blackburn, we’ve got good memories against them from when we stayed up.

“They’ve been a Premier League side, they’ve been a Championship side, League One for a short period of time, and then went back up.

“But they’ve got a really experienced manager, a real good group of players.

"The games that we play against them are usually very tight and marginal, so it’s going to be a really tough game.

Town's recent record against the top sides in the division is pretty decent too, having beaten Bournemouth, then at the summit earlier this month, with a 1-1 draw against Fulham before Christmas, the Cottagers going on to score 22 goals in four matches since the turn of the year.

The Hatters boss said: "Usually we're playing the top, as two our of the last three home games we've played top of the league, so first, second, not much difference.

“I believe we're a good side home and away.

"Sometimes we lose football matches but it’s never for (lack of) effort.

"Sometimes teams are better than us, it doesn’t happen very often, but they are.

“We said the other day, we haven’t really been at our best and when we haven’t, normally, we get punished.

"We’ve drawn games that we should’ve won, like Nottingham Forest away. Sheffield United at home, Fulham at home, Stoke at home where we’ve lost the game.

"We should have more out of them."

With Town having a Christmas of inactivity due to Covid outbreaks, it means today's encounter is the fifth match in 15 days for the Hatters.

Although Jones has called the schedule 'relentless' and feels it is a danger to his players, he didn’t think his preparation had been hindered by the quick turnaround, adding: "The Championship is like that anyway but when you have an enforced, unprecedented break, that can cause a backlog and that’s what we’re in at the minute.

"There isn’t much time to change between but at least we’re getting a bit of rhythm.

“We’re pretty consistent in what we do, so I’m not saying it hinders you, but you go from game to game.

"You can’t do that, train with intensity and expect to get that back, so it’s a real tough schedule.

“That’s why we harp on about the five subs because we’re still recovering from Covid times.

"I know it’s changing the rules slightly but that would help because it would mean we could freshen people up in game as well as before.

“That’s the only issue really, the Championship schedule is hectic anyway, it’s just that this is compounded slightly by the break."