10 August 2023 , 21:30
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Tom Lockyer knew he would make it to the Premier League stage after a pep-talk from Christian Eriksen's cardiologist.
The Luton Town captain collapsed on the pitch during the Championship play-off final against Coventry 76 days ago and celebrated their penalty shoot-out triumph from his hospital bed. When the Hatters make their first appearance in the top flight for 31 years at Brighton tomorrow on Saturday, Lockyer will count his blessings to be part of the squad after the Wembley scare in which he lost consciousness.
And it was only when the Wales defender was referred to Sanjay Sharma, the consultant who oversaw Denmark midfielder Eriksen's return to football after his cardiac arrest in Copenhagen at Euro 2020, that the path towards a comeback cleared in a trice. Lockyer, 28, revealed: “I think I was out for about two minutes, and it was weird because when I came round I felt fine, no pains or anything like that.
“The physio was saying to me, 'Locks, can you hear me?' and I was like, 'Yeah, what's up?' He said, 'You're coming off' and I wasn't having any of it. It was only when he told me I had collapsed on the pitch when I thought, 'Why am I on the floor?' I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt and letting the lads down - that's when the emotions poured out of me and I couldn't stop crying.
“Not many people watch a penalty shoot-out to win promotion to the Premier League from a hospital bed, and I wanted to go nuts, but at the same time I had to be a little bit wary. It was a unique situation but I'm grateful I had the family around me and the old man took that photo to capture the moment.
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“There were a couple of days when I thought this might not happen, and that was quite hard, but fortunately it didn't last too long. I ended up having the same cardiologist as Eriksen and he put any doubts to bed quite early that I would be back, no problem.
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Tom Lockyer started the play-off final at Wembley before collapsing (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)“As soon as I spoke to him, he said that Eriksen's (problem) was worse and he's back, so I was in good spirits straight away. I had a little operation at the time, but as heart surgery goes I hear it was one of the most routine, and I'm being checked out a lot more than the average footballer, so I'm not worried at all.
“I do remember my first run after getting the all-clear, getting a stitch and thinking. 'I'm not right here' and phoning to doctor to make sure I was OK. But above all I remember feeling incredibly lucky and honoured still to be playing.”
Luton kick off as odds-on favourites to be relegated after a one-season stopover in the Premier League, and Lockyer admitted: “The eyes of the world are on us now and there's no hiding place. We came up through the play-offs so technically, on paper, we are going to be the worst team here, but people on the outside can say what they want. The standards we set last season were incredible and they are going to have to go up again.”