Luton 1 Albion 3

Graham Potter says Albion have no need to sign a replacement for Ben White.

That is an impressive show of faith in the defenders he has at his disposal.

Shane Duffy played for 80 minutes of this win at Luton and Leo Ostigard has had a positive pre-season.

But there was another hint as to what we might see at times this season in his post-match comments and possibly the line-up he fielded at Kenilworth Road.

Albion ran out winners in the first match after White’s move to Arsenal with well-taken goals from Aaron Connolly, Enock Mwepu and Percy Tau.

They did so using a back four and a midfield diamond which gave Adam Lallana scope to prompt behind a front two.

Whether that was all to make best use of the players available or a dress rehearsal for a tactical option in the Premier League remains to be seen.

But you could see why it might work.

It looks like Tariq Lamptey will miss the opening matches and Joel Veltman is more of right-back than wing-back.

The system allows Yves Bissouma to operate in what has become his best role, just ahead of the centre-backs.

It would mean the acquisition of someone with more experience and expertise at left-back than Solly March, Dan Burn and Michal Karbownik makes more sense.

Jakub Moder effectively played in a role similar to that which was described by some as left wing-back but wasn’t really at times last season.

Mwepu operated in the equivalent role to the right.

Neal Maupay and Connolly were the attacking pair in the first half, Tau and Florin Andone in the second.

Potter played three at the back almost exclusively last season.

But you can be certain he will have been looking at other tactical tools from the moment it seemed White would go.

Perhaps significantly, the question as to whether he was looking to sign a replacement for White came during an in-house interview by club media before the independent reporters asked their follow-ups.

The Seagulls boss replied: “I think we have got enough competition in that area.

“We have got enough good players. We can be flexible with how we set up.

“You can’t replace a £50 million player, you have to look to be creative with solutions within the squad.”

Luton counterpart Nathan Jones said defending did not seem too high on either team’s agenda as he bemoaned the “easy-ozy” nature of his side’s final match before the Championship kick-off.

Both teams were missing personnel.

Albion got through 22 players without giving game time, for various reasons, to Kjell Scherpen, Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Lamptey, Moises Caicedo, Jayson Molumby, Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard or Danny Welbeck. Potter has plenty to work with.

The pursuit of a striker will continue to be a talking point.

There is ongoing interest in Darwin Nunez at Benfica – and reports from Portugal of a bid.

It felt like Nunez’s previous club Almeria were trying to use Albion last summer, whether to get a better price from Benfica or as a back-up option should the Portuguese club not play ball.

Benfica were confidently budgeting for a Champions League campaign when they pulled the deal off but then suffered elimination to PAOK in the single-game qualifying round.

But there are other ways to boost the scoring tally – be it more goals from strikers who have under-performed, from midfield or at set-pieces.

There was a pleasing composure and confidence about the way ex-Luton loanee Connolly guided home the ninth-minute opener after Lallana had sent him clear with a touch of class.

Mwepu’s arrival into the box was perfectly timed and the guided one-touch right-foot finish just as good as he turned in a low cross from fit-again March.

Duffy almost headed home a March corner before an horrendous miscue by Dan Burn looking to play the ball across the face of goal set up Harry Cornick to reduce arrears on half-time.

The home striker left no chance for the returning Robert Sanchez, who had earlier made a couple of decent blocks and looked confident with the ball at his feet.

His half-time replacement Jason Steele also seemed to be enjoying himself, making a sharp parry from Jordan Clark and a fine save with his feet from Cornick.

Luton were on the attack when Bissouma got across from that deep-lying position to tidy up and send the ball forward.

Andone helped it on and Tau was away to run at the defence, cut inside, then back out again and angle his shot low across keeper Simon Sluga.

That was it in terms of important action – or as important as it can be in pre-season.

PERCY TAU TOLD OLYMPICS CALL CAN PAY OFF

Albion produced a classy, confident and commanding performance to win 3-0 at this same ground 13 years ago just ahead of perhaps the most chaotic season of the post-Goldstone era.

Conversely, they lost here going into the 2016-17 campaign which ended in promotion.

But you can still pick up a few clues – and Potter might have offered a couple off and on the pitch.

Albion: Sanchez (Steele 46); Veltman (Karbownik 46), Duffy (Tsoungui 80), Burn (Ostigard 58), March (Zeqiri 64); Bissouma (Gross 64), Mwepu (Leonard 68), Moder (Tau 46), Lallana (Richards 64); Connolly (Alzate 46), Maupay (Andone 46).