Hatters won't be overawed by Bournemouth challenge

Luton boss Nathan Jones insists his side won’t be overawed by the prospect of facing former Premier League side Bournemouth at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

The Cherries came down from the top flight last term and are, as expected, already challenging for an immediate return, sitting second in the table with 10 wins and seven draws from their opening 19 games.

Jason Tindall's team put five past Huddersfield recently and also won 4-0 at Barnsley, as they have former Liverpool and England youth striker Dominic Solanke in excellent goalscoring form after a tough start to life at the Vitality Stadium, plus Wales international David Brooks and hugely experienced stopper Asmir Begovic between the posts.

However, after leading his side to a 3-1 win over table-toppers Norwich City recently and dispatching Preston North End 3-0 last week, Jones said: “We played Norwich the other day and beat them, so we’re not going to go and suddenly think, 'wow this is Bournemouth.'

"We're going to think this is an opportunity for us, our performance levels have got to be better (than they were at Middlesbrough) and if they’re not better, that’s what we’ll get.”

Town go into the game, their ninth in 29 days, before finally having a week off over the Christmas period to prepare for Boxing Day's trip to Reading.

Although Jones has spoke out about the crazy schedule his side will have to go through this term, due to the coronavirus pandemic, he wasn’t going to use it as an excuse when coming up against a side like the Cherries.

He continued: "It’s relentless isn’t it, it’s constant, so it’s not like you can dwell on a defeat or revel in a win because you go home, a day later you’re preparing for a game and the day after that you’re playing again.

"Whoever did the fixtures and put us right up north (at Middlesbrough) at this time, I suppose someone’s got to come here.

“What we do is we have to put real demands on players because we are stretched at the level.

"We maybe lack a little bit of quality, but at times like at the weekend (against Preston) we can put in some wonderful performances and against Norwich we can.

"Then to repeat that takes a lot and to ask the demands we put on the players, takes a lot, but I wouldn't say we’re at a disadvantage.

"We’re a Championship club, we’re not poor old, little old Luton, we’re not. We’re prepared for this level, we’ve got a good squad, we lack top, top end quality compared to Bournemouth, compared to Norwich, but we’ve got so many other things which are excellent for us.

"We have to keep going, we know we might not win the Championship, but we’re competing week in week out and these (Middlesbrough) are a Premier League club, these have a bigger budget than us, but you wouldn't say there’s a massive difference."