Elijah Adebayo kept Luton in the hunt to avoid relegation from the Premier League as his equalizer salvaged a 1-1 draw against Everton on Friday. Rob Edwards’ side fell behind to a Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty, but Adebayo scored the crucial goal before half-time at Kenilworth Road. Despite picking up just one win in their last 15 league games, third-placed Luton are still fighting for the drop. They are behind fourth-placed Nottingham Forest on goal difference, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side facing already-relegated Sheffield United on Saturday.
A win for Forest at Bramall Lane would take them three points clear of Luton, who have two games in hand against West Ham and Fulham to avoid an immediate return to the Championship after last season’s fairytale promotion.
“We’re still in that race as we speak. I’m proud of the performance, but it would be huge to win tonight. Almost but we’ve had a lot of that this year,” Edwards said.
Luton’s survival bid is further complicated by waiting for a verdict on Forest’s appeal against the deduction of four points for financial offences, with an announcement from the Premier League expected before the end of the season.
“There’s a long way to go and it will be over for them (Forest) tomorrow. There’s a situation going on that’s out of our control that’s not ideal,” Edwards said of Forest’s appeal.
“I don’t really get it. Everyone would just like to know where they are. I think we’d all love that.”
Despite dropping eight points as punishment for their own financial offences, Everton had already secured their Premier League status with three games remaining.
Winners of their previous three games, Sean Dyche’s side had nothing to play for on their first visit to Kenilworth Road for 17 years, but they did enough to frustrate the superstitious Edwards.
Edwards revealed this week that he drives the same route to the stadium, uses the same toothpaste and walks his dog at a certain time of day if Luton are on a winning streak.
Defeated in their last three games, Edwards needed a change of luck, so he said he would change his underwear for the Everton clash.
Luton dig deep
Unfortunately for Edwards, Luton’s luck was misplaced early on as Tahit Chong unsuccessfully called for a penalty after being tripped when Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford lunged to challenge the Luton striker.
Tenden Mengy gifted Everton a penalty in the 23rd minute when he needlessly tackled Jared Branthwaite to the ground as the pair ran for a corner.
Calvert-Lewin stepped up to take the spot-kick down the middle for his fourth goal in his last five games.
But Luton had no intention of surrendering and they were level seven minutes later.
Targeting Everton’s Ashley Young again and again, Luton’s persistence paid off as Adebayo controlled Albert Sabi Lokonga’s lofted pass on his chest, muscled past the veteran defender and curled a fine finish past Pickford from the 10 yards.
In his first start since February following a hamstring injury, Adebayo reached 10 goals for the season.
Luton striker Carlton Morris had a terrific header cleared off the line by Ben Godfrey just before half-time.
Jack Harrison almost put Everton in front with a deflected effort that was cleared under the post by Tomasz Kaminski.
Calvert-Lewin’s powerful header forced a stunning Kaminski turnaround, while Pickford made a fine stop from Luke Berry’s header in stoppage time.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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