Why Luton Town boss Jack Wilshere 'expects a difficult game’ vs Mansfield Town
Jack Wilshere is preparing for what he believes will be a tough match when Luton Town make the trip to the One Call Stadium.
Mansfield Town will host the Hatters on Saturday in their penultimate home game of the season. Stags are now level with last season’s overall tally, after hitting the 54-point mark thanks to their draw against Leyton Orient last time out.
The result sees Nigel Clough’s side seven points clear of the bottom four, with five games left to play. Luton are chasing a spot in the promotion play-offs and are in need of as many points as possible from their final four fixtures. Hatters head into their clash at the One Call in seventh place, just three points behind Stevenage in sixth.
Manager Jack Wilshere has already stressed Saturday will require his side to ‘give everything’ if they want to challenge for all three points. The former Arsenal and England star guided Hatters to the Vertu Trophy on Sunday and is pushing to also qualify for the play-offs.
Following their latest win over Northampton Town, Wilshere looked ahead to facing Stags and said: “Mansfield away – different type of game but also similar in some ways with the way they play and the type of team they are. But away from home, we know in this league you have to make sure you’re ready to do the ugly things and earn the right to get the ball.”
The last time these two sides met, Stags enjoyed a 2-0 win over Hatters on their turf. It was Wilshere’s first game in charge of the club and he reflected on the challenge he was faced with during his pre-match press conference.
“It was a tough game, my first game here, there was no getting away from that, although I felt we were good, they were good as well, and they probably deserved their win,” he said.
“They've grown since then, they've got a manager who has so much experience and knowledge of the game to win games of football and we expect a difficult game.
“It wasn’t so long ago we weren't good enough away from home, we’ve got some fresh memories in our mind about what we don’t need to do away from home and what we do need to do and it will be no different and when we get the ball we need to use it well.”
Jack Wilshere delivers Luton Town fitness update
The Hatters boss has provided an update on his side’s fitness, confirming that defender Hakeem Odoffin has returned to training, which could put him in contention for Saturday.
Odoffin signed for Luton last summer and has been a big hit with the fans but injuries have troubled him this season. However, Hatters haven’t lost a single one of the eight games he has started so far this campaign.
“He trained today for the first time this week, so we’ll make a decision on him,” Wilshere said in his press conference, via our sister website Luton Today. “He’s okay, it’s probably really good that he missed a game and he’s fresher than he would have been if he did play. We know what we’ve got coming up and this is a really important game for us, so we’ve got decisions to make.”