Town talisman Adebayo is fit for cup clash but Jones will resist the urge to keep 'flogging' him

Luton boss Nathan Jones has allayed any fears over an injury to star striker Elijah Adebayo, admitting he has missed the last two matches in a bid to prevent Town from 'flogging him' during their congested Championship schedule.

The Hatters' 12-goal leading scorer looked to be a real concern when appearing to be in some discomfort following the 2-1 victory over Bristol City recently, walking off gingerly at the final whistle and holding his hamstring.

He didn’t make the squad for either of Luton’s last two fixtures against Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City, Town picking up four points in that time, but that was more of a precaution than anything serious according to Jones, who said: “Elijah is fit, it’s just we made sure he is fresh because we can’t keep flogging him.

"People forget he’s young and I know people say 'he should be able to do this, should be able to do that,' but no they’re not.

"Older players are usually more durable or if you talk about late 20’s, that’s when you become durable because you are used to doing stuff, whereas Elijah is fresh.

"He's new to Championship football but he’s played a phenomenal amount of games, he covers a phenomenal amount of distance too.

"We’ve had to freshen him up because he wasn’t injured, but we just needed to make sure going into the final furlong if you like, that he is as fresh as he can be.”

Town have also been without skipper Sonny Bradley and Jordan Clark, but the pair could be back in action shortly, as Jones continued: Sonny is a tricky one because he’s just had the birth of his baby on the weekend so he has a bit of family leave, while Jordan Clark is very close.”