Luton vs Chelsea: Chelsea survive late scare to edge out Luton 3-2

• Chelsea beat Luton 3-2 on Saturday, thanks to Cole Palmer’s brace and Noni Madueke’s goal
• The Blues were 3-0 up with 10 minutes left to play before Luton Town pulled two goals back and almost completed the comeback

On Saturday, Chelsea secured a 3-2 victory away at Kenilworth Road during the Luton vs Chelsea Premier League fixture. The Blues were 3-0 up with 10 minutes left to play before Luton Town pulled two goals back and almost completed the comeback.

Cole Palmer opened the scoring for Chelsea inside 12 minutes before Noni Madueke increased the lead to 2-0 towards the end of the first half. Palmer, who arrived from Manchester City during the summer, then added another goal midway through the second period.

Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke scored in the Luton vs Chelsea game played on Saturday. Photo/ Chelsea Football Club.

Chelsea’s defense had been solid but everything changed in the final ten minutes when Luton got into business for a consolation goal. The hosts hit the woodwork twice and had a goal disallowed before finally scoring two goals in five minutes.

Luton’s first goal was scored by Chelsea’s former player Ross Barkley (80) before Elijah Adebayo added the second and the last of this game in the 87th minute. Despite the scare from Luton, Chelsea fans will be happy with their team heading into the new year with three points and back-to-back wins. The Blues are unbeaten in their final league game of the calendar year since 2011.

Speaking after Saturday’s match, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino said he was so pleased with the win as they needed the three points.

“I am so pleased, I think it’s never easy, we needed to win and we controlled the game until the second half, about 60-65 minutes. It was a positive performance, I’m so happy. But when you concede it increases the opponent’s belief. You can see it’s difficult to play here, you’ve seen it against other teams – Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal. They have very good players and a very good coach, we needed the three points and we got what we wanted.” Sky Sports quotes Mauricio Pochettino.

Chelsea’s next assignment will be on Saturday 6 January against Preston North End in the FA Cup. They will then travel to Middlesbrough on Tuesday 9 January.

Luton Vs Chelsea

Following his star performance in Chelsea’s last game, Noni Madueke was one of the new faces Mauricio Pochettino added to his starting XI to face Luton Town. The English winger had the first chance of the match inside five minutes after a tricky wing play down the right. However, it didn’t materialize as Luton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was just at the right place to show his prowess between the goalposts.

Luton, who are currently in a good form, then took control of the match but there efforts in front of Chelsea’s goal didn’t bear fruits. After 12 minutes of play at Kenilworth Road, the first goal of the match was scored by Cole Palmer. This was after Kabore tried to clear the ball only for it to fall on Palmer’s path, who did what he does best in front of goals.

Madueke then turned the outside of Gabriel Osho before increasing Chelsea’s advantage to 2-0 before the half-time break. With the introduction of Tahith Chong and Chiedozie Ogbene at the interval, the host seemed stronger after the restart.

Chelsea beat Luton Town 3-2. Photo/ We Ain’t Got No History.

However, it was Chelsea who managed to score first in the second half when Cole Palmer rolled the ball into an empty net after beating the goalkeeper. Adebayo thought he had gotten his team back into this match shortly afterwards but his goal was ruled out for offside.

When it looked like Chelsea were going to walk away with a comfortable victory, Ross Barkley pulled one goal back for the hosts in the 80th minute. Adebayo then added a second in the 87th minute but the hosts just couldn’t complete the comeback.