Luton boss Jones wary of a 'sting' in the tail from goal-shy Baggies

Luton chief Nathan Jones is wary of a ‘sting’ in the tail from today’s opponents West Bromwich Albion due to their poor run of form in front of goal on the road in recent weeks.

The Baggies have now not netted in any of their last five matches away from the Hawthorns, drawing blanks at Barnsley, Derby County, QPR, Millwall and Sheffield United, not on the scoresheet since Kyle McFadzean put through his own goal just before half time in the 2-1 triumph at Coventry City on December 4

Albion have also struggled anywhere recently, unable to score in their last four matches, taking just one point from a possible 12.

It led to Valerien Ismael losing his job earlier this month, with the hugely experienced Steve Bruce coming in, but when asked about the Baggies problems in front of goal, Town chief Nathan Jones added: "I wish you hadn’t mentioned that as there’s always a sting to that.

“It won’t affect our preparation in any way shape or form.

"They're going to break that duck sooner or later with the quality they’ve got and invariably in football you do that.

"It’s just god willing it won’t be against us.”

While Albion have found it tough on the road for the past few months, Luton have been enjoying an excellent run at Kenilworth Road, on a six match unbeaten run in all competitions, recording four wins and two draws.

Jones continued: “We’re confident going into every game.

"We’re not unrealistic, we give everyone due respect but we like testing ourselves against big sides.

"These are definitely a big and a good side, so it’s another test.

"We like playing at home, but we have to make sure that we prove that.”

With both sides entertaining play-off aims now, the Baggies three points adrift of the top six ahead of kick-off and Luton just a further one behind, when asked if he had tried to work out a potential tally that would be required to finish above the dotted line, Jones added: "We’ve looked at what normally does and what we have to do, but all we’re doing is concentrating on ourselves.

"We tried to take a certain amount of points every five-game block and if we do that, we know historically you will end up in a good position.

"We’ve tried to make sure we kept our goal difference positive because if you do that, historically you end up in a certain position.

"All those things add up and we’ve done a bit of homework on that but right now it could be more, it could be less.

"Historically if you want to survive in this division, you have to get 46, 47 points minimum.

"To be honest with you I’m not sure that is the case this year, so a lot of things can change."