Mengi might be involved at Stamford Bridge
Town boss Jack Wilshere has revealed he could potentially bring centre half Teden Mengi in from the cold when his side go to Premier League Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Thursday evening.
The 24-year-old hasn’t featured for the Hatters since the Vertu Trophy clash against Plymouth Argyle at Kenilworth Road in February, as having become a key member of Luton’s back-line, he suffered a serious hamstring injury in the second half that ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign.
Now fully fit and given a squad number for the upcoming campaign, the former Manchester United youngster didn’t feature in any pre-season friendlies for Town, and hasn’t been included in any match-day squads for their opening three competitive fixtures, Wilshere stating recently that Mengi would be allowed to move away from Bedfordshire in the transfer window that shuts next Tuesday evening, if he could find new employers.
Defender Teden Mengi could be involved against Chelsea on Thursday night - pic: Pete Norton/Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Defender Teden Mengi could be involved against Chelsea on Thursday night - pic: Pete Norton/Getty Images
However, that is yet to happen, and with Town embarking on a run of five games in 15 days, the ex-England U21s centre half could be utilised at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, as Wilshere said: “Potentially. He’s been training for a while now. He had an injury last season, so we had to build him up during this pre-season, so he’s always been training with the group. We have to pick a squad, obviously we’re going to have more on the bench as well being the Carabao Cup, but we’re going to have pick a team that can number one, compete in this game, but also understand that there is a game Sunday as well.”
The Luton chief did make a change in his defence when going up against Notts County at the weekend, as with Hakeem Odoffin still nursing a nasty cut on his head from the 4-3 win at Reading, he was only on the bench, with Mads Andersen taking his place to partner summer addition George Johnston.
The pair didn’t cover themselves in glory for the Magpies’ second goal, Ollie Cooper left completely unmarked to waltz into the box and score, as on whether Odoffin is now in contention to start against Xabi Alonso’s side, Wilshere continued: “Yes. It was always the worry that we were playing against a team that were going to play long balls, be aggressive, fight, and what we couldn’t have happened was in the first one that cut split open again and he’d have to come off.
"So we decided that we wanted to bring him with us as if something did happen to Mads or any of the other centre halves it would have been worth the risk, but fortunately we didn’t have to risk it and give the cut a little bit more time to heal. He’s back in full contact training, so he’s good to go.”
Thursday night’s trip to West London is the start of a hugely congested period for the Hatters, as they travel to Mansfield on Sunday and then host Stockport County next Wednesday evening. Luton also entertain Leyton Orient and make the short trip to Stevenage in just over a fortnight’s time, with the match being televised on Sky TV, but although it means he could make changes against Chelsea, Wilshere is confident his players can cope with the sequence of matches. He added: “We knew that, we knew that going into pre-season, so when we were planning pre-season, we prepared the players for this.
“That is the demands of this league and English football in general, we have to have players who can cope with that, robust players, players that can perform, produce a physical performance and then go again in a few days time. Of course you still have to look at things and prioritise freshness. We’ve come out of a period where we had a lot of training time and that now reduces. There’s different things you focus on day to day, but the main thing is performance and we’ll do whatever we feel is best to first of all compete on Thursday.”