In-form Luton midfielder Chong passed fit to take on Reds in relegation six-pointer

Hatters midfielder Tahith Chong has been passed fit to face Nottingham Forest in what is being billed as Luton’s biggest game of the season to date after he came off in Wednesday night’s 4-3 defeat to AFC Bournemouth.

The summer signing from Birmingham is currently enjoying his best run of form for the Hatters this term, starting the club’s last five league games, his longest run since joining from the Blues, having a huge hand in the goals against Manchester United and Liverpool, also finding the net in the matches with Aston Villa and the Cherries as well, making it four goals in all competitions so far. Having been one of Luton’s best players on the south coast, burying a point blank header from Jordan Clark’s ball in early on and then finding Alfie Doughty to set up Chiedozie Ogbene to make it 2-0, Chong had to make way with 73 minutes gone, as having been fouled by Adam Smith, he fell into the studs of the covering Illya Zabarnyi.

Speaking after the game, Edwards had been worried about the incident, saying: “It just looked like a blow, he was struggling with holding his hand, his wrist, his ribs. He got caught with some studs all over, so we’ll have to see how he is. The old treatment room is pretty full at the moment.”

Thankfully, it hasn’t got any busier, as with eight players missing from Saturday’s match, Chong won’t be one of them, Edwards adding this afternoon: “Yes, he’ll be okay. It was a contact injury so he’ll be in a lot of pain, but he’ll be okay. I’m really pleased with Chongy’s impact and think consistent playing time has been great for him. He’s working really hard, doing lots of things well and a real threat for us. He was affecting games well when he was coming on, that’s been the message, try and get that from the start. Consistently now he’s been doing that, he was involved in the goal at Liverpool, and scoring the other day, so he’s been creating good moments consistently now in lots of games. Weed that and he’s been good.”

There was also good news about midfielder Ross Barkley, who although missing out on a place in the England squad, shouldn’t have any problems after taking another blow to his already broken nose in Dorset. Edwards added: “He got another one (whack to the face), it’s starting to go down now hopefully so it's starting to repair.”