Mpanzu: Play-offs are the main aim but we're not giving up on automatic promotion just yet

Luton midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu hasn’t given up just yet on the outside chance of the Hatters winning automatic promotion this season.

Ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash with QPR at Kenilworth Road, Town find themselves occupying the final play-off berth, sitting one point above their rivals, although that could change following this afternoon’s Championship schedule.

They are six points behind second-placed Huddersfield, who let a 2-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 at West Bromwich Albion last night, with two games in hand, while the Terriers are just a point above Bournemouth in third, who have played two matches less than the Hatters.

It would seem a play-off place remains the more realistic way for Town to try and reach the Premier League this term, but Mpanzu, speaking after the 1-0 win at Coventry in midweek, said: “Anything can happen, if we can get a run together and get top two, Fulham and Bournemouth and Huddersfield are great teams, they're in a great run of form as well.

"Our main aim is to get in the play-offs and that’s what we’re hoping for.

“You see on the pitch there’s always belief.

"We’ve got a manager that believes in us, the staff, the club, management, the players, we know that we can do something special this season.

"Hopefully we continue this run, we lost on the weekend, we didn’t really play our best, could have defended better, but we've bounced back today with three points.

“He (Nathan Jones) was happy with the three points, you know him, he was agitated on the bench and I had to calm him down, it’s all fun and games when you're winning!

"He’s a passionate manager and we love that about him, he was spurring us on from minute zero to minute 90, he’s a great manager to play for."

Going up against a side who are so close to them in the table tomorrow can have its benefits for Luton as well according to the long-serving midfielder, who continued: “All the teams that we’re facing, Middlesbrough, Cov, QPR, they’re all in and around us.

"So one win can shoot us from 10th to seventh, eighth and one loss can take you all the way down.

"We’ve got to maintain performances, we can’t get too high, we’ve got to enjoy it, but QPR will be a big game on Sunday.”

It was Rangers who came out on top, as they have done more often than not during league games between the two sides in recent history, earlier in the season, triumphing 2-0 at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

The match saw Town create and then waste a whole host of opportunities, with 16 shots on the evening, but only managing four on target, undone by an early defensive error and then conceding to Charlie Austin once more in the second half.

Mpanzu added: “There was a long ball over the top and (Chris) Willock scored.

"We weren't really, I wouldn't say unfortunate, but we had chances.

"Fred (Onyedinma) had a chance, (Harry) Cornick had a chance and we thought we weren't hard done by, in the end, they deserved to win the game.

"But it's different at Kenilworth Road, we know that we’re strong at home and hopefully we can get three points."