Chiedozie Ogbene looks set to make a very welcome return for Luton ahead of their vital Premier League encounter at West Ham on Saturday afternoon.
The Ireland forward has not played since the March international window when he returned to his club after picking up an injury in the scoreless draw with Belgium.
Ogbene played 70 minutes of that encounter at the Aviva Stadium but returned to his club ahead of the Switzerland defeat in Dublin three days later.
The former Cork City attacker has not played a minute of competitive action since, while Luton have become embroiled in a relegation dogfight, but Ogbene did return to training this week and may be involved in the matchday squad for the trip to east London.
"We’ll try and get him involved," said manager Rob Edwards at his pre-match press conference. "He has only had a couple days of training, but we want impactful players back involved and he’s one of them.
"Chieo has been a player we’ve missed. The training he has done has been on matchday minus two and one which aren’t the most intense of sessions but when he’s on it, in those wide areas, he can cause anyone problems."
Luton currently sit three points off Nottingham Forest with a worse goal difference with just two Premier League games remaining. And if they fail to win at West Ham, they could be relegated later on Saturday as Forest take on Chelsea in the late kick-off.
Edwards insists all his players can do is focus on delivering the required performance themselves rather than worry about what results elsewhere might see them relegated.
The Luton boss, though, will not lose any sleep about the numerous permutations which may or may not play out over 90 minutes around the grounds on Saturday.
"I don’t think it (would be) a miracle at all. I think we have been in worse situations at the football club and got out of it," said Edwards.
"We know what we have got to do – we have got to pick up points and it has got to start tomorrow.
"Of course it is not (mission impossible). We will concentrate on ourselves and obviously we are going to need help – but we all know how difficult it is to win in the Premier League.
"We have got to try and do that and obviously Forest and Burnley have got difficult games as well.
"They are all tough, but without us doing our job it does not matter what anyone else does."
Edwards told a press conference: "There are loads of different dynamics, but again that doesn’t matter if we don’t get something tomorrow.
"We will give everything – it is the time to leave it all out there, it is now or never."
No matter the outcome on Saturday, Edwards feels the club will be in a better position for their experiences this season.
"We have done a very, very good job together and we will come back stronger whatever – whether that is in the Premier League or in the Championship, this clubs on the up.
"When we got promoted, we knew the scale of this challenge.
"We had to grow and evolve and change quicker than anyone else with less time to do it.
"Obviously we're coming from a little bit further behind than some others in terms of how quick the club has moved forward on the grass. We are building the right way."
Edwards added: "We could be looking back and going 'what an incredible year, and that is the way I want to try and look at it at the moment.
"We will see where we are at next Sunday, but that all depends on what we do tomorrow and how we perform."
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