NAKAMBA WILL BE A CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYER BY THE TIME HE RETURNS
LONDON – INJURED Warriors captain, Marvelous Nakamba will resume action in the English Championship after his Luton Town all but crashed out of the English Premiership after just a season’s dance in the topflight league.
Nakamba was ruled out for the rest of the season following an injury he picked in December and was not able to help the club survive relegation, which was virtually confirmed on Saturday.
Luton Town boss Rob Edwards said the Premier League was “just a bit too much” for his side after a 3-1 loss away at West Ham United all but sealed his team’s relegation.
Luton have struggled to compete financially with other teams in the Premier League this year and have spent far less than any other club according to Transfermarkt.
“We got promoted with one of the smallest budgets... It was a huge gap, chasm, between us and the Premier League. That won’t necessarily be the case now, we can be one of the stronger teams.”
With Sheffield United and Burnley already relegated, it would be the first time since the 1997-1998 season that all three promoted teams go straight back down.
Edwards said they wanted to go out in style against Fulham on the final day.
“We want to try and go out on a high and show the best us, we owe that to our supporters, ourselves, and the league.”
Luton have struggled to find their feet in their first season in England’s top flight since 1992, having won just one in 16 in the league, and not registered an away league win in 2024.
“We didn’t get relegated because of today, it was a culmination of the whole season. Today was the difficult day but we’ve been on an incredible journey. I’m just really disappointed that I’m the one responsible,” he told reporters.
Edwards praised his side’s performance in the first half, where Luton went into the break 1-0 up thanks to a sixth-minute header from Belgian midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga.
“We showed some really good things to go 1-0 up... we showed at times we’ve got quality to get behind them and get into good areas,” he told reporters.
Luton were not officially relegated on Saturday after Nottingham Forest lost 3-2 to Chelsea, but it will take a final day miracle for them to survive.
They host Fulham on the final day of the season needing to overcome a three point and 12 goal-difference deficit to 17th placed Forest, who visit already relegated Burnley.
West Ham fans applauded Luton’s players off the pitch at the end of the match, which Edwards said was “touching”. —