Luton chief urges Hatters to deal with the pressure of rare favourites tag against Trotters

Luton boss Rob Edwards has urged his side to deal with the unusual pressure of finding themselves as favourites when they entertain Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

Over recent years, the Hatters, who were finalists in 1959, also reaching the semi-finals back in 1985 and 1994, have found themselves cast in the underdog role themselves, none more so when they reached the fifth round back in 2013, beating then top flight side Norwich City when a non-league outfit.

Since then, Luton have climbed the leagues at a rapid pace, culminating in their first ever season in the Premier League this term, as they continue to make an impressive fist of their battle to stay up. Opponents Bolton meanwhile have been on something of a downward spiral, as after over a decade in the top flight themselves they were relegated in 2012, falling into League Two after going into administration and also suffering a points deduction.

That drop off appears to have ended now though, the Trotters winning promotion from League Two in 2021 and are sitting second in the third tier, looking well set for a return to the Championship.

Despite their recent histories, Luton will start the game as favourites due to their higher placing in the footballing echelon, something that hasn’t happened this term when going up against the elite of English and world football. It’s a different pressure that the players will need to take into account, as Edwards said: “That was the message when I was stood here in front of the group, we’ve got to be able to deal with being in this game, the favourites. We’re at home, we’re playing against a team that’s playing really well, but are a couple of leagues below at the moment.

“We’ve got to really take it as we’ve taken every single Premier League game in terms of our attitude and our mentality. The process that we’ve gone into and how we’re preparing for it is exactly the same as we would prepare for every single game, because they’re very good at what they do.

"We’ve got to be able to deal with that pressure as in almost every game in the league, 19 games that we’ve had, we’ll have been the underdog and in the past in cup games, we weren’t here, we would have been the not fancied team. Now we are in this game, so we’ve got to be able to deal with that, step up and deliver a good performance,

“The lads know as well, we don’t want to drop our standards at all, we have to remain consistent now. I think we’re in good form, I know we haven’t won every game, but we’ve been in really good form throughout the month of December and we’ve got to try and maintain that. That’s the message, so we’ll be going into this game with I believe the right mentality, respecting the opposition and looking to win it.”