Mpanzu: Accrington win was a statement of intent

Going into the game, Luton had seen their advantage cut by Barnsley, Portsmouth and Sunderland all winning on Good Friday.

However, the Hatters didn’t display any nerves as they eased past their struggling opponents with real aplomb.

Mpanzu said: “Everyone else had won, we were hoping somebody would lose, but if we win all our games, it’s in our own hands.

“So Pompey winning, Sunderland winning, Barnsley winning, it’s good on them, but we put a statement out there that we can win as well, now hopefully on to Tuesday and see what we can do there.

“Some people were thinking ‘Charlton beat Luton and you’re going to fall apart,’ but no, we put that to bed.

“We came, beat Accy and moved ahead again, so that’s all we can do.

“They’re now thinking ‘damn Luton have won again, we’ve got to catch them’, so the pressure is all on them.”

The squeeze was put back on Town as Easter Monday saw wins for Barnsley and Portsmouth once more, with Sunderland only drawing, but Mpanzu thinks the Hatters are revelling in the promotion race.

He said: “There’s pressure, but everyone loves pressure.

“We need to handle the pressure because everyone’s trying to catch us, we handled that, put a performance in and now everyone’s trying to catch us.

“We’re putting pressure on everyone else now as they’ve got to catch us and everyone’s fighting for that second automatic promotion place, so it’s all on them now.”