Jones hopes to have some of his injured players back for Robins trip

Luton boss Nathan Jones is hopeful of having a larger squad to pick from when Town head to Bristol City this evening.

The Hatters chief saw his plans at Blackburn Rovers severely disrupted by late withdrawals from Amari’i Bell and Elijah Adebayo, before Admiral Muskwe then pulled out just a minute before kick-off and had to be replaced by Carlos Mendes Gomes.

With Fred Onyedinma already missing, Jones then saw midfielder Allan Campbell limp off with just 10 minutes gone, meaning both will be absent when Town head to Ashton Gate.

However, Jones is optimistic over the fitness of others, as speaking yesterday, he said: "There are a few that didn’t quite make it for the weekend that will be fit for tomorrow night.

"It has been a reasonably quick turnaround, yesterday has given us a little bit of an added bonus as well so we should be in slightly better shape.

“That was just flu (for Adebayo) it wasn’t Covid. We hope to have him available but we will have to see.”

Midfielder Glen Rea also missed the trip to Blackburn on Saturday, as Jones continued: “In training he picked up a groin strain, so we’ve been very patient with Glen and we hope he’s back and training properly today.

"We did a clearance session yesterday, so hopefully he will train.”

Jones also reiterated that this is the most difficult period he has ever experienced as a manager in terms of the number of injuries his squad have been hit by.

The Town chief added: "Things that have been happening are unfathomable as we’ve always had about 95 per cent availability rate.

"We’re carrying a slightly bigger squad than we would have envisaged but it is a good job we are.

"Luckily enough we have a strong squad so when we do make a change or two, it doesn’t weaken us and that is a good thing.

"It has been a tough time, I’m sure a lot of people have had that, but this has been my toughest time in terms of people being unavailable.

"It has been like that since the end of pre-season.

"We were in a real strong position after the Portsmouth game and then suddenly we have never been able to pick from what we would imagine to be a full squad.

“Not all of them are injuries, some of them are illness as well.

"The last three away games we’ve lost someone on the morning or the night of the game through illness so it isn’t just injuries.

"To be fair it isn’t soft tissue injuries either, Fred picked up an ankle sprain in training, Allan Campbell as we saw was the victim of a horrific challenge so it is a little bit of everything, it's not something you can put your finger on.

"One or two muscular ones and we don’t tend to pick up muscular ones and then things like impact injuries which you can’t fathom for.

"It has been a bit of everything but it should settle down.

"We have a strong enough squad we believe so we’re looking forward to the game.”