No moaning from Edwards despite Luton being down to the 'bare bones' for Liverpool clash

Luton boss Rob Edwards won’t be ‘moaning’ despite his side being down to what he described as the ‘bare bones’, particularly defensively, for the visit of one of the Premier League’s elite teams in Liverpool this weekend.

The Reds, who won their 19th top flight title back in 2020, head to Kenilworth Road on Sunday on the back of a magnificent start to the season that has seen them win 12 from 15 fixtures in all competitions, scoring 38 goals in that time too.

The Hatters have a number of injury concerns for the contest, particularly at the back, with Amari’i Bell, Reece Burke, Mads Andersen and Dan Potts still out, while Jordan Clark, Luke Berry and on-loan Arsenal midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga are also absent.

However, Edwards won’t be using that as any kind of excuse when facing Jurgen Klopp’s high-flying Reds, who, if results go their way on Saturday, could go top with victory.

He said: “There's not anyone coming back unfortunately, so we are where we were, but the guys are making good progress, just not quite ready to make an impact.

"So a little bit down to the bare bones, but there’s quite a lot of teams in this kind of position at the moment.

"It is difficult but you won’t hear me moaning or complaining about it.

"It gives other people opportunities and we’ve got to make sure that we’re working in the best way we can.

"We trust the group, we trust the squad.

"In team sports it’s inevitable you will get injuries and that’s when we need the whole group.

"We’ve got a really good youth team we’re working with and some really good young players who are getting some good experience as well, helping us in training, available to be on the bench.

"So that’s just where it’s at at the moment, but I don’t think we’re the only club in that sort of situation.”

Going into more detail on some of his absentees, with Bell, who has been out since the 2-1 home defeat to Burnley, Edwards continued: “Not quite ready, we’ll see how he is for next week.

"What I don’t want to do now is say ‘yes, he’ll be all right for next week,’ if he’s not quite.

"He’s working really hard and the staff are as well, so hopefully soon.”

Meanwhile, Burke, who went off in the recent 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, is expected to be slightly longer, as Edwards continued: “He’s progressing well, he feels really good in himself.

“You can have a scan and it can tell you one thing and say it’s x amount of time, but then you have to treat your player as well.

"I don’t like to try and put timescales as I don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on the player or the staff that are working with him at the moment.

"We’re hoping he won’t be too much longer after the international break, so let’s see.

"Again, don't hold me to that now, he is a miss as he was performing really, really well, so it is disappointing.”

Asked whether it was the same injury as he had been suffering with before, that a groin problem, Edwards said: “This one was hamstring as he slammed his foot down to backheel it when he was running at high speed and the force just went through and he felt his hamstring.

"It’s really frustrating as we've got a few of them at the moment, as have a lot of clubs, but we’re working really hard to make sure we can get everyone back and keep everyone back as well.”

Meanwhile, giving updates on Berry, who hasn’t been named in the last two match-day squads, and Clark, Edwards added: “Bez unfortunately felt a calf muscle in the warm up a couple of weeks ago.

"He was running on the AlterG (treadmill) today, progressing nicely, so it’s just one that unfortunately he felt in the early stages of a training session.

“Clicker is pushing hard, he was training today, progressing really well, obviously he’s been out for a while so that one is a real positive for us.”