Elijah Adebayo sprung up two divisions in January, but the striker looks at home in the Championship

Having played the first half of the season in League Two, Elijah Adebayo made a two-division leap up to the Championship when Luton Town acquired the 23-year-old’s signature in January.

However, the striker has settled into the second-tier with immense comfort.

Before the Hatters’ 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, Adebayo had scored twice in his opening four games as a Luton player.

The front-man scored what looked like the winner against Millwall until George Evans equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time as well as a late winner in a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, having been 2-0 down at half-time. He also picked up an assist against the Owls.

Statistics would suggest that Adebayo had a quiet game at The City Ground on Tuesday night without a goal or assist, however, the London-born centre-forward was a major handful for the Forest defence to deal with.

Stood at 6’4” with a well-built, muscular frame, the man is huge. Absolutely enormous. The London-born Hatter won virtually every long ball that came his way but, surprisingly, had very good dribbling ability and close control. A decent first touch too. In fact, he rarely got an opportunity to head the ball goalwards.

Chances were limited throughout the game for Luton, who sealed the win just after the hour mark as Ryan Tunnicliffe finished a marvellous cross from Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu.

However, an opportunity did fall the way of Adebayo, who killed a long ball with a good first touch, but took too much time trying to weave past the Forest defence for an opening to shoot with his effort was blocked. Something the new-signing will only learn as he plays Championship games.

Having signed for Walsall ahead of the 2019/20 season, the then 21-year-old was joining an outfit that had just suffered relegation from League One. Having gone through the ranks at Fulham, he endured loan spells as a teenager in non-league with Slough Town and Bognor Regis and the EFL with Cheltenham, Swindon Town and Stevenage.

Eight goals in 30 appearances before the league was declared null and void due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a decent return as Walsall finished 12th. However, his first half of the current campaign was vastly more impressive.

Before his move to Kenilworth Road, Adebayo had netted ten goals and one assist in 25 league games, catching the eye of Nathan Jones who brought the striker to Hertfordshire for an undisclosed fee.

Luton’s forward-line was certainly an obvious area to address in the January window, with the Championship outfit scoring just 21 goals in 26 league games before the front-man arrived.

30-year-old James Collins is still the Hatters’ top scorer for the season so far with seven goals in 29 appearances, however, the forward seems to be falling out of favour with manager Nathan Jones starting him from the bench in the last three games.

The Welshman started the team that scored three goals in the second-half against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, having made three substitutions at half-time.

Having started the game against the Owls with a 3-5-2 formation, Jones clearly scrapped the idea of having three-at-the-back and instead opted for a 4-1-2-1-2 which won them the game.

The same formation was played in the East Midlands on Tuesday evening and it worked a treat. Forest carved out more opportunities, however, Luton always looked a danger on the counter-attack.

The Hatters were arguably lucky to be level at the break but they were more composed in the second period, with the forward-pairing of Adebayo and Harry Cornick as well as Mpanzu in the hole behind causing all sorts of issues for Chris Hughton’s defence to deal with.

Numerous Luton players can be highlighted for their individual performances, particularly in the defence with their tenth clean sheet of the season secured.

However, the forward is certainly a man to watch for the remainder of the season. A major physical presence, a decent first touch and a handful on the ball. He could certainly be amongst the next crop of EFL youngsters who make it to the top-flight in the coming years.

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