Luton chief relishing the chance to take on Tony Mowbray's Sunderland

Luton boss Nathan Jones is relishing the challenge of going up against Sunderland and experienced manager Tony Mowbray once more this afternoon.

The Hatters haven’t take on their opponents from Wearside at Kenilworth Road since August 2018, when both sides were back in League One, Matty Pearson’s second half equaliser earning the hosts a point.

With Town going on to finish as champions, the Black Cats spent the next four three seasons in the third tier, until under Alex Neil, they reached the Championship via the play-offs last term.

He has since departed for Stoke City, with Mowbray coming in, as Jones has locked horns with the former Celtic and West Bromwich Albion boss many times during his lengthy stint in charge of Blackburn Rovers.

Ahead of today’s test, Jones said: “They’re a big club, great following, a club we know very well.

“Mick (Harford, head of recruitment) is a big Sunderland fan from Sunderland so he gives us all the updates.

“They lost a manager and replaced him with an equally good manager in terms of Tony.

"He knows the league, knows how to play, they’re a very fluent side, try to play, so they will be really difficult to play against, but it’s the Championship.

"It’s a different test from Watford, more of a similar test to QPR if you like, just another Championship game. They will fill the away end no doubt, so the atmosphere should be fantastic. It’s a game we can really look forward to.

“Tony sets his team up very fluently, wants to play very unorthodox in terms of shapes, and he’s had got good players, good footballers.

"At Blackburn he had real good footballers and is always the toughest of games and absolutely no different this week.”

Sunderland had made a good start to life back in the second tier as with nine games gone, they were sitting sixth in the table, with four wins under their belt.

They have struggled in recent weeks though, on a run of just one victory in seven, which has seen the slide down to 15th place.

With Luton having their noses put majorly out of joint with a 4-0 thrashing at fierce rivals Watford last weekend, a result that ended their own seven match unbeaten sequence, Jones knows it’s a chance to get back on the winning trail immediately, as he continued: “It’s a wonderful opportunity.

"We’ve played Sunderland a few times, played them here, drew 1-1 in the promotion year, League One.

"They came here when we had the toughest of starts, Portsmouth away and then Peterborough, so we remember them.

"A fantastic club and it’s good to see them on the up, but we’d like to put them down a little bit on Saturday.”

Injuries to their frontman has been the main reason behind the Black Cats’ struggles in recent weeks, as main striker Ross Stewart who had five in seven has been out with a thigh injury, on-loan Everton forward Ellis Simms out for six weeks with a toe problem too.

They still have attacking talent in former Spurs and Leeds youngster Jack Clarke though, who has four goals, as Jones said: “He’s an 11, 12 million pound player, so he’s a threat.

"They have a number of players there and the way they play that are a threat.

"We’ll be a threat in a different way, so we know this, but so has every Championship side.

"We came up against Watford the other day, their front four are as good as any, we came up against Norwich, again their front four is as good any.

"Then you come up against QPR and they’ve got a real potent front four as well, so it’s constant, but it’s the Championship.”

Despite Luton’s poor result on Sunday, they still had a well attended open training session on Tuesday, with fans heading to Kenilworth Road to watch their heroes being put through their paces by Jones and his coaching staff.

The boss said: “The ironic thing about it was it was probably the worst time to do it and yet it turned into a real positive.

"The fans realise, they’ll be as disappointed as us.

"I wouldn’t say more disappointed as I know how gutted they are, but it’s our livelihood that got hurt at the weekend, so we’re as gutted as them.

"It was nice to see them and to give them something.

"They saw a good training session, a structural one, they saw goals and quality and what a great group they are, in terms of how they speak, how they conduct themselves, all those things, so really happy.”

Meanwhile, today’s game is the first in a spell of five matches in just two weeks as Luton cram in another round of fixtures before breaking for a month for the World Cup.

Jones added: “Five games in two weeks, that’s normal life in the Championship.

"It’s not like we’ve got to take advantage of this as five games in the two weeks doesn’t come around very often, it does.

"Then you’ve got a month’s break and then pretty much constant until the end of the season.

"So it’s standard and we know it’s a big thing, a few home games in there, but every game is tough and going to be very, very tough.”