Variety of factors have led club into an unexpected season of struggle and prompted a change of manager. Luton ended last season with a relegation but they also came out of it with a boosted bank balance, a determination to return to the Premier League and with Rob Edwards tied to a new four-year contract. On the eve of the new campaign bookmakers made them third favourites for promotion, while Opta got its supercomputer to simulate the season 10,000 times and concluded they were most likely to finish fifth.
![[Simon Burnton]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/08/04/Simon_Burnton,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“Last year there was a great buzz around the place, but we were going into the unknown,” Edwards said. “We’ve all experienced it and we know what it’s about, so we want to get back there. I would say there is a focus, a hunger around. I can feel it. We know what we are about, we know how to play, we know what we want to do and we want to get back there. There is a different feel to this time last year and I like it.”.
![[Matt Bloomfield before Wycombe’s FA Cup match against Portsmouth]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cce7594ef4c47b1e0bcd024caa4faccf6bb9db48/397_1073_4250_2551/master/4250.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
He did not like much about what followed. Luton played title second-favourites Burnley at home in their opening game, lost 4-1 and never recovered. It took until mid-September for them to record their first win, beating Millwall 1-0 away. “The monkey’s off our back now,” Edwards said optimistically. Ten games and more than four months later Luton have not picked up another point away from home, and they go into Saturday’s home fixture against Preston in 20th place, two points above the bottom three, with the division’s second-worst goal difference and a new manager in the dugout.
