Luton Town could be without defender Reece Burke once again as they prepare to face Stoke City on Wednesday night.
The 25-year-old defender has been a part of Nathan Jones’s defensive rotation over the course of the 2021/22 campaign.
Luton Town’s options at centre-back have given Jones the freedom to rotate his back this season, and Burke has notched up 19 appearances for the Hatters across all competitions.
However, the former West Ham United and Hull City man was absent from Luton Town’s 2-0 win over West Brom last time out and now, he could miss their Wednesday night clash too.
Jones’ men face off against Stoke City in midweek, and Luton Today states Burke could miss that tie too.
The Luton Town boss has said that Burke was withdrawn from training on Tuesday after feeling his groin, stating that the depth in defence means the Hatters don’t need to take any unnecessary injury risks.
“He trained on Tuesday and felt his groin, so we pulled him,” Jones said.
“With the strength we have in that area then we don’t want to risk anyone and he was probably due a bit as Kal’s (Naismith) the only one we haven’t rested in that position.”
Gaining momentum
Luton Town will be keen to maintain their strong run of form with another result against fellow play-off hopefuls on Wednesday night.
Although Stoke City sit in 13th and are eight points away from the top-six, Michael O’Neill’s side have games in hand on many of the teams around them, and the tightly-packed Championship table means there is still plenty of time to make a push for the play-offs.
The Hatters are intent on making their own late charge for the top-six too. Jones’ side have won three of their last four Championship games, and a result against the Potters would be another huge step in the right direction.
