Luton Town earned all three points with a 2-0 victory over Millwall on Saturday, with The Hatters climbing the Championship table to 10th place. 

Luton, who made it three successive games without conceding a goal, have picked up seven points and have scored seven goals during that time.

The Hatters managed to cruise to victory against The Lions on Saturday without Luke Berry playing a part. The 29-year-old has been extremely important to Luton since returning from injury, scoring four and assisting two in six Championship appearances.

However, the return of Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu meant that Berry took a place on the bench, with Nathan Jones outlining that rotation is key during a three-game week, during an interview with Luton Today. 

Luton are also seeing key personnel getting back to full fitness, with the returns of Allan Campbell, Admiral Muskwe and Fred Onyedinma, all creating a competitive squad full of conundrums for Jones to solve. 

 

 

Speaking to Luton Today, Jones addressed Berry's omission: “We’ve had tough decisions to make as I've left Luke Berry out who’s scored four in the last four games and two assists because I believe we needed certain things.

“Jordan Clark can give us that, Luke Berry gives us that too, but anyone who gives an assist is justified in the team selection.

“It’s a headache, we made a late change in terms of playing Pelly instead of Luke as we believed it was going to be tight and we were going to bring Luke on to get us a goal, as it was we didn’t need that, so we’ve got another fresh one for Tuesday.

“Before he picked up a little slight injury he (Mpanzu) was in great form anyway and he’s a player I trust, a player I love, a player that’s bubbly.

“I felt we needed to match their midfield with pace and power.

"Glen (Rea) gives us that security, Clarky gives us real guile and movement, and then Pelly gives us that pace and power, so I felt we had a good blend.

“It’s really harsh on Luke Berry, but I'm here to make those tough decisions and I felt comfortable in doing it, and it was the right one.

“Luke’s been outstanding and he will come into contention for the two games we have this week.”

The verdict 

Jones has some big decisions to make with a full squad, with Luton currently in excellent form. 

Berry could quite easily come back into the Luton side, but as Jones alluded to, it is a three-game week, and he will need to ensure that he can keep a fully fit squad going into next week. 

Luton have been excellent since reverting to a back three, with Sonny Bradley coming into the side and shoring up the defence. 

Going to a back three means that there is one less position available in midfield and attack, meaning that Jones will have a lot of options for Luton's visit to Derby County tonight.