Cautious Pablo Hernandez on why Luton Town are in a similar boat to Leeds United ahead of Hatters clash

Championship front-runners Leeds sit 22 places and 35 points above the second-bottom Hatters who are three points adrift of Championship safety.

But therein, says Hernandez, lies a big reason why the Tuesday night encounter will be a hard task with Nathan Jones' side scrapping away to avoid the drop to League One.

"Sometimes for the fans when you see this game, we're at the top, Luton are at the bottom, you might think it's an easy game for us," said Hernandez.

"Every game is hard. They need the points, like us. It's a difficult game.

"We know we play our football, if we don't lose our identity, our spirit, we have a good chance.

"We know it's a difficult game and we need to be focused 100 per cent."

Leeds approach tonight's contest looking to finally close in on a return to the Premier League after a 16-year absence following the club's relegation in May 2004.

Saturday's 3-0 victory at home to Fulham has left United three points clear at the top of the division and with an eight-point cushion in the division's automatic promotion spots with Brentford now leading the chase in third.

United will now take in their final seven games in the space of 23 days knowing that 14 points will guarantee promotion, even if Brentford win every remaining fixture.

Hernandez added: "We have seven games to play in a short period of time. The next three weeks will be hard, it is difficult for the players but we are ready.

"We're excited to play games and win games and achieve the goal."