Luton chief challenges ex-Red Devils winger to produce his form off the bench for Town if given the nod against United

Luton boss Rob Edwards has challenged summer signing Tahith Chong to show the kind of form he has done when coming off the bench if selected from the start against his former side Manchester United this weekend.

The 24-year-old, who moved to Kenilworth Road from Birmingham City for a fee of around £4m in the summer, began the first four matches of the Premier League season for the Hatters, but has found his opportunities far more restricted since then. In fact he has only started two more fixtures, the 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest in October and 3-1 reverse to Brentford in early December, meaning 12 of his 18 outings have come when brought on during the second half of a top flight encounter, his only goal arriving when brought on against Liverpool as well.

Chong has started three out of Luton's four cup matches, but asked if the challenge was now for him to show that kind of influence from the opening whistle, Edwards said: “Yes, that’s it and that’s what we want everyone to do, so that's got to be his challenge but everyone’s as well. We have to start games well as if you don’t then like we saw last week in terms of going behind, it’s difficult to come back into games and playing against a level of opposition that we’re going to be playing against, especially in the next few weeks, if we don’t start well then we’re going to be struggling. So that’s the key really for all the lads.”

During Luton’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday, Chong came on in the 53rd minute when Carlton Morris had just halved the deficit and was a bundle of energy, producing a lively display when trying to search for an equaliser, threading one wonderful pass through the Blades defence for Alfie Doughty, who couldn’t pick out unmarked team-mate Elijah Adebayo, while also whistling his own effort just wide from 20 yards. Despite a lack of starts this terms, Edwards has still been impressed with the former Netherlands youth international, who moved to Old Trafford from Feyenoord as a 16-year-old in 2006, playing 16 times for the Red Devils’ first team during his six years in the north west.

The Hatters chief declared he was definitely close to the XI that takes the field when Erik ten Hag’s side are in Bedfordshire on Sunday, adding: “I think T has been really effective in lots of games when he’s been coming on and there’s a bit more space, we’ve wanted maybe that transitional threat, or we’ve wanted that bit more balance with the left foot on the left hand side. I thought he was very effective when he came on the other day and injected some pace, some quality in certain areas, so he’s certainly in the frame. He’s been pushing for starts for quite a long time, but it just shows the strength in those areas that we’ve got, that he’s not quite been able to get them. But he’s someone that trains full throttle every single day and he’s certainly pushing. He's affecting the games at the moment.”