Leeds United and Aston Villa loanees have made an impact at Luton as Sunderland prepare to face in-form side

Rob Edwards’ side have climbed to fourth in the table following three successive wins and have the third best defensive record in the Championship.

To find out more, we caught up with Mike Simmonds from our sister title Luton Today on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here

After four wins in five, it looks like the mood is pretty positive at Luton

MS: “It’s really positive, especially with the away form. It’s unbeaten in seven now on the road and they’ve not done this in the second tier before.

“The home form has picked up since the start of the season and the away form has been fantastic.

“The way things are going they can definitely head there with lots of optimism.”

What changes has Rob Edwards made since replacing Nathan Jones in November?

MS: “Luton definitely now play more football.

“Under Nathan Jones this season, while they were getting results, they had gone slightly more direct than previously, so he’s playing more football in the way they play out from the back and attack.

“He’s brought in some players like Cody Drameh (on loan from Leeds) and Marvelous Nakamba (on loan from Aston Villa) so he’s put his own imprint on the team.”

What system will they play?

MS: “He’s not really changed the formation.

“It’s unusual that a manager comes into a club when the team are doing so well, usually it’s because a manager has got sacked because the team is performing poorly. Obviously this is different because Jones was taken by Southampton.

“He’s stuck with the same formation with two strikers and wing-backs.”

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Who are their key players?

MS: “Carlton Morris has been fantastic and is up to 16 goals for the season now. In Luton’s last four wins he’s scored the winner in all of them and him and Elijah Adebayo are a really good front two.

“Morris can score any kind of goal and Adebayo’s workrate has picked up even more since Edwards has come in, he’s looking really good.

“Both wing-backs Drameh and Alfie Doughty are definitely ones to watch out for and if Jordan Clark plays he’s a big player, as is Allan Campbell, and Tom Lockyer at the back as well.

“It’s not really one or two players, the whole team is playing really, really well.

How will they approach the game at Sunderland?

MS: “I think they wouldn’t be disappointed with a point there, but the fact they are in such good form and went to Sheffield United and won, have won three in a row, I think they will definitely be looking to get the three points.

“Against Sheffield United it was very much a case of staying in the game for the first half, not that they came to sit back or anything, but it was quite clear they wanted to quieten the crowd and make sure they didn’t give them any sort of advantage.

“With a big crowd I imagine it will be a similar sort of approach again to make sure they are solid in the opening stages, and then they will always create chances.”