Luton boss hugely impressed at how high-flying Tottenham have coped with Harry Kane's exit

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Town manager on facing Spurs at Kenilworth Road

Hatters boss Rob Edwards has been hugely impressed with just how tomorrow’s opponents Tottenham Hotspur have adapted to life without their talismanic forward Harry Kane when making a terrific start to the Premier League season.

The England skipper opted to bring the curtain down on his 19-year stay in North London in the summer, moving to Bundesliga side Bayern Munich for a fee of around £85m, ending a Spurs career that saw him net 280 goals in 435 games and leaving just as new manager Ange Postecoglu was getting his feet under the table having made the journey south from Scottish Premier League champions Celtic.

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The Greece-born Australian was able to splash out and bolster his squad to the tune of over £100m, acquiring Brennan Johnson (£47.5m) James Maddison (£40m), Micky van de Ven (£34.5m), Guglielmo Vicario (£17.2m) and Aleji Veliz (£13m), also turning Pedro Porro’s loan move into a permanent one for £39.7m.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, reacts to Tottenham's 2-1 win over Liverpool - pic: Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesSpurs boss Ange Postecoglou, reacts to Tottenham's 2-1 win over Liverpool - pic: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, reacts to Tottenham's 2-1 win over Liverpool - pic: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The new boys, coupled with ex-Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma’s new lease of life, have seen Spurs make an unbeaten start to the campaign, sitting in second after five wins and two draws from seven matches.

Kane's departure hasn’t overly affected their scoring rate either, as with 17 goals flying into the opposition net at over two per game, they are joint fourth with Manchester City and know a win tomorrow would put them top for 24 hours at least.

Discussing Town’s opponents, Edwards said: “I’m very impressed, they’ve been excellent,

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“In Ange, they’ve got one of the best managers as well, I think he’s outstanding.

"I really like what he’s done with the team and we all know how talented their players are.

"I know there’s a few additions, but with them losing such a talisman in Harry Kane, I really like how they’ve gone about adapting to life without him.

“They’re a fast team, aggressive in how they play, press really, really hard, their reactions are great when they lose the ball.

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"They can keep the ball, have a really clear style and they pose a lot of threats, but this is why we got promoted.

"These are the sorts of games that we’ve been looking forward to playing and we want to really give a good account of ourselves."

While Spurs go into the game on the back of a wonderful, if not hugely controversial stoppage time victory over Liverpool last weekend, Luis Díaz’s opening goal wrongly ruled out for offside, the same can’t be said for Town, who were left crushed on Tuesday night when Burnley netted late on to claim a 2-1 victory at Kenilworth Road.

The Clarets winner came just 65 seconds after Elijah Adebayo had capped a terrific second half display from the Hatters with his first goal of the season to make it 1-1, but despite the disappointment, Edwards insisted spirits remain high within the camp.

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He continued: “We’re playing Tottenham, if we don’t pick ourselves up then we’re in trouble.

"It was really deflating, it was disappointing to concede in the manner we did and lose the game like we did, especially with the effort the players put in and the performance, especially in the second half was excellent.

"But that’s what happens in football, you get knocked down, we have to pick ourselves up and that’s it.

"We have to show some real strength of character and there’s not many better games to get up for, so we’re really looking forward to it now.

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"The players have been great, they’ve reacted really, really positive and I think they are looking forward to it."

While Spurs have had a whole week to prepare for this fixture, that isn’t the case for Luton, but despite a hamstring injury ruling out Amari’i Bell, Edwards is confident his squad can cope with a third top flight game in just seven days, adding: “That’s new for us of course, but we have been used to that in the EFL.

"The intensity has gone up a notch, or two, and dealing with that is fine.

“That’s why we’ve got the squad that we’ve got and we brought in some really good athletes.

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"We brought in people that can handle it and you look at our running stats and how we’re coping, we’re doing very, very well with that, so I’m pleased.

"What I’ve got to do is make sure we’re fresh, get the training bit right and then pick the right team as we’re going to have to run hard in every single game this year.

"The majority of the time we're not going to have the ball as much as the opposition, although our home games, especially Wolves and Burnley we have had a lot of the ball which has been good, so tomorrow might be slightly different, we’ll see.”

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