Town chief will use any inside knowledge of the Hornets players to his advantage in derby clash

Luton boss Rob Edwards will use whatever inside knowledge he has on the Watford players in a bid to lead the Hatters to a victory over their bitter rivals during tomorrow’s battle at Kenilworth Road.

The 40-year-old had a brief spell in charge of the Hornets at the beginning of the season, after leaving League Two champions Forest Green Rovers, signing the likes of Villarreal midfielder Mario Gaspar on a free transfer and also bringing in Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury on loan.

His tenure was a short one though, even for most Watford managers, sacked in September after 11 games and just over four months at the club, before moving to Luton in November, along with assistant Richie Kyle, who had also joined him in Hertfordshire.

Having worked with a number of the current squad, on whether that will help show up any weaknesses in a side who are sitting 10th in the table, and recently changed their boss once again, with Slaven Bilic fired and former Sheffield United and Middlesbrough chief Chris Wilder taking his place, Edwards said: “We were there for a short period of time.

“We can obviously use some of our knowledge of the players, the individuals, but since Chris has come in, he’ll be asking something different.

"We can only go off the three games he’s had so far and he’ll have had another couple of weeks to work with the players, not all of the because some of them would’ve been away.

"We’ve got a good knowledge of some of the individuals, but that’s all.

"We’ll try to focus on ourselves.

"Of course, we’ll look at the opposition, like we will do for any game, but then it’s about what we do.

"We can control what we do, we can’t control what Watford do in the game.

"We can have plans for different scenarios, which we always do, and we’ve been running through, but we’re only in control of ourselves.”

Some have suggested that Watford, who are on a run of just two wins in 11 matches, might not be as motivated for the fixture as the Hatters will be, especially after Town suffered a 4-0 drubbing in their visit to Vicarage Road earlier in the season.

Edwards, who has already enjoyed a victory over his opposite number this term, when Watford defeated Middlesbrough 2-1, refuted that notion, continuing: “We’re expecting the best version of Watford, don’t worry about that, they’ll be up for it.

“I’ve come across Chris a few times, one or two coaching conferences and up against him earlier in the season when we were both in different roles, so a top manager.

"He’s been proven at this level and the Premier League, a very, very good manager, really good guy as well.

"So of course not in this game, I don’t wish him all the best, but going forward we do.”

Going into the game, Luton still have hopes of catching Sheffield United in second spot, who they trail by six points and would cut to three with the match kicking off at 12.30pm, ahead of the Blades’ trip to Norwich City.

Third placed Middlesbrough, who go to Huddersfield Town, are also well in contention, but if Town can get the three points, it would be another big step in cementing a top six berth, increasing their advantage over the sides outside the play-off places to 10 points before their matches get underway.

Edwards added: “The gap we’ve got is decent but it’s not big enough to be secure of anything.

"It could have been more after the last game as well (1-1 v Sunderland), which we’re all disappointed about, but I won’t dwell on that.

"What it means if we were to get a positive result is we extend that over another rival and that is the bottom line, with all the other stuff that comes around by winning a derby match.

"But I don’t want to sit here talking about, ‘yeah, we’re just going to turn up and win,’ because that’s not the case.

"We’re going to have to fight and really work for it against a good team.

"Of course there is a bigger picture, there’s a whole league going on and we’re all playing for positions, so I’ve got to stress, I know how important it is, the game, I know that.

"I get it and trust me, no-one will want to win more than me on the day, but there's 46 games in the league season and it’s about where you finish at the end.

"This game now is crucial in this part of the journey and it’s the most important game, not only because of what it means, but because it’s the next game.

"With eight to go and 24 points to play for, there’s still lots of points to play for.

"Every one is really important and after this one, Millwall will become important because that’s the next game.

"There are three points at stake, of course, a lot of pride and a lot of bragging rights at stake as well, all of those other things away from it, but the three points in the most important thing.”