Luton boss gives honest verdict on Darwin Nunez’s Liverpool miss and responds to tragedy chants

Rob Edwards admitted he thought luck may be on Luton Town’s side when Darwin Nunez squandered a gilt-edged chance for Liverpool in the Premier League fixture - but felt a draw at a fair result.

The below-par Reds managed to salvage a 1-1 stalemate at Kenilworth Road on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp’s men had several opportunities in the first half but could not convert. Then in the second period with the deadlock still to be broken, Nunez somehow blazed off target from just yards away. Although Mo Salah was given offside when he headed across goal, replays showed the Egyptian was indeed in a legal position and the on-field decision would likely have been reversed by VAR.

Luton then stunned Liverpool when Tahith Chong rounded off a counter-attack to give the home side the lead in the 80th minute. However, Luis Diaz came off the bench to rescue the Reds a point in stoppage-time.

Luton still await a first home win since being promoted to the Premier League. But having been comprehensively defeated by Aston Villa in their previous game, Hatters head coach Edwards was delighted with how his troops quelled the Anfield outfit.

Edwards, when asked what he thought when Nunez failed to finish, replied: “You maybe start thinking: ‘Is this going to be our day?’ What was the score at that time? I can’t even remember, it was a bit of a blur then we get a counter-attacking moment and we’re 1-0 up.

“If I’m being really honest, they deserve something because of the chances they had. It wasn’t like chance after chance after chance, I didn’t feel we were under immense pressure when we were back in our shape but they have that quality and did break us down.

“But when they missed that chance, you think it could be our day, this. We defended way better because Liverpool watched our game against Villa, they can show five or six clips of how Villa can break us down.

“We defended way better against that. Liverpool make those forward runs so well, they’ve got loads of players who can just turn and pick someone out. Trent is brilliant at that now, he comes inside in the pivot position and is looking forward. They have top players running into space and we dealt with that miles better than against Villa.”

The game was marred by sections of Luton fans chanting ‘always the victims’ on several occasions. It mocks the Hillsborough tragedy in which 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives at an FA Cup semi-final in 1989, with Kop legend Jamie Carragher calling out the chants while on Sky Sports commentary duty.

At the start of the season, the Premier League said it would heavily punish clubs whose fans partake in tragedy chanting. Edwards admitted he did not hear the chants during the game and refrained from fully answering - but stressed that Luton don’t condone the behaviour.

He said: “Not at the moment. I'll find out but I can't comment on it. I don't want to say the wrong thing right now. It's something I don't condone, we don't condone but I won't say anything at the moment because I haven't heard that.”