Super Eagles prospect Elijah Adebayo scored his first goal in nearly three months during Luton Town’s hard-fought 1-1 draw with Everton on Friday evening. The Hatters have badly missed the presence of the 26-year-old, who was ruled out of several games due to an injury he suffered in early February.
Adebayo suffered a hamstring injury and spent some time on the sidelines as a result, but returned to action last week when he came on as a second-half substitute against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Although the former Walsall forward is still building up his fitness, Luton Town boss Rob Edwards handed him a starting spot for Friday’s important Premier League clash against Everton at Kenilworth Road.
Adebayo’s return to the starting line-up was a huge morale booster for the Hatters in their fight for survival, but they made the worst possible start against Everton after falling behind within 24 minutes. Teden Mengi was adjudged to have fouled Jarrad Branthwaite in the box, resulting in a penalty that Dominic Calvert-Lewin successfully converted.
Everton’s lead lasted just seven minutes, though, with Adebayo stepping up to score the equaliser after the half-hour mark. The forward combined beautifully with Albert Sambi Lokonga before smashing the ball into the back of the net to restore parity for Luton.
Elijah Adebayo scores 10th Premier League goal of the season
Although both teams created some decent chances in the second half, none was clinical enough to find the winner as the game ended 1-1. Adebayo was on the pitch for 80 minutes before being replaced by Andros Townsend for the final 10 minutes of the game.
The ex-Fulham man, however, chalked a personal high after scoring his 10th Premier League goal of the season. His impressive goal record further begs the question of where Luton Town would be on the table if the striker had remained fit throughout the season.
The Hatters are currently in the relegation zone but are level on points with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, although the latter have played one game less. The threat of relegation seems real for Edwards’ side but they still have two matches left to try to change their fate.
With Sheffield United already relegated, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest and Burnley now have to battle over which two teams will join the Blades in the Championship. The aforementioned trio are currently separated by just two points but only one of them can beat the drop, with Everton, Brentford and Crystal Palace all statistically safe from relegation.
Adebayo and Luton Town enter history books
Meanwhile, this is the first time in Luton Town’s history that two players from the club have scored 10 goals or more in a single top-flight season. Mike Newell and Brian Stein were the first to chalk that feat in the 1986/87 season and now Adebayo and Carlton Morris have also done the same.
Both Adebayo and Morris have scored 10 Premier League goals this season, while the Hatters also now join Arsenal as only the second side since 2017/18 to have two players with 10 or more goals in their debut campaign in the English top-flight after Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang first did it.
Luton will be hoping that Adebayo and Morris can add to their tallies and help them win their final two games to enhance the club’s chances of survival. Hatters boss Edwards, however, believes his side cannot be ruled out just yet despite their latest disappointing result against Everton.
“In the end a draw wasn’t what we wanted. I’m proud of the players, the club, the supporters. They stayed with us until the end. We tried to do all the right things. We’re still in the mix,” the Luton manager said, as quoted by the Guardian.
“On another day we could have won the game but we didn’t. We’ve got to keep going. We don’t have a crystal ball. It might be four points, five, six. It might be enough. We’ve got to believe it is. We go again.”
Adebayo and Luton will travel to West Ham United next Saturday before ending the season with a tricky test against Fulham at Kenilworth Road.
