Town's Jamaican international in with a shout of making Villa clash but fellow Luton defender ruled out

Luton defender Amari’i Bell will be given as much time as possible to try and be fit for the Hatters’ Premier League clash with top four candidates Aston Villa on Saturday, but fellow centre half Gabe Osho has been ruled out of the contest.

The 29-year-old Jamaican international went off during the first half of Tuesday night’s FA Cup 6-2 defeat to Manchester City, which has now cast a serious doubt over his availability to face the Villains at Kenilworth Road tomorrow evening. Asked exactly what his injury concerns were and if the ex-Blackburn players was in contention of featuring, Edwards said: “It’s his hamstring and ankle, he’s in with a shout. We’re going to give Amari’i as much time as possible. We’re not far off where we were for the City game the other day, Gabe Osho will be a no, so it’s a longer list than I would like, but we’re not the only team that’s got a few missing at the moment. It gives opportunities to other people, we’re confident we can go into the game with a strong team, there might be a few young lads on the bench but it’s great for them.”

One of those young players could be defender Joe Johnson, who came on for his fifth competitive outing for the Hatters against Erling Haaland and co in the week. Despite City going on to score another four goals, the academy graduate impressed with just how he handled the situation, but is also a doubt when Unai Emery’s side are in town, as Edwards continued: “Joe’s actually been ill the last three days, so he hasn’t been here today. Hopefully he’ll be all right to be involved, but he won’t be well enough to start.”

Meanwhile, questioned on the likelihood of top scorer Elijah Adebayo or Arsenal loanee Sambi Lokonga being fit enough to take the field for the first of Luton’s last 13 games of the campaign, the clash being shown live on Sky Sports, with Adebayo missing Luton’s last three matches and Lokonga not featuring in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City after going off at half time in the 4-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield just over a week ago, Edwards simply added: “No.”