Chelsea v Luton Town – Early Thoughts
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Tomorrow evening (Friday), the Hatters make the relatively short trip to Stamford Bridge, to take on Chelsea.
It is the sort of game we craved for when promotion was confirmed to the Premier League, on that emotional day back in May.
The Hatters go there having lost the only game they’ve played this season, an emphatic 4-1 defeat away to Brighton and Hove Albion, a defeat that probably doesn’t look that bad seeing as Brighton repeated it away to Wolverhampton Wanderers and, after two games, sit proudly at the top of the Premier League table.
Chelsea, on the other hand, are struggling, sat in the lower reaches of the table after picking up just one point from the two games they’ve played, a draw at home to Liverpool and an away defeat to West Ham United.
But, having seen both games, courtesy of the necessary evil that is live television, it’s fair to say that, for spells in both games, they played some decent football and stretched their opponents.
The difference in the two clubs can be seen when it comes to the transfer market this summer, Chelsea have splashed the cash fervently as they attempt to rebuild their side, spending millions upon millions with their most expensive signing, Moises Caicedo, costing £115 million.
Whereas the Hatters have invested more prudently, or as some might say, at the lower end of the market, spending circa £20 million in total.
As somebody pointed out, Chelsea’s total spend, over the last 12 months, would pay for Power Court to be built several times.
If, as we hope, Luton Town are to pick up their first win of the season, against Chelsea, could the pointers as to how to do it come from the recent game at West Ham? Antonio, a powerful centre forward, troubled the heart of the Chelsea defence, could Carlton Morris do something similar?
One thing for certain is that the Hatters will have to be patient, Chelsea will have far more of the ball as they maintain possession, switching the ball from one side of the pitch to the other looking for an opening, mistakes must be kept to a minimum and any chances that come our way, there may be only one or two in the 90 minutes plus the substantial stoppage time, must be taken.
Confidence in the Chelsea camp probably isn’t as high as they’d like, the longer the Hatters remain in the game the better our chances will be of snatching a goal and a possible win.
As for predicting the outcome of the result, our recent poll doesn’t give a clear indication with 36% predicting a draw, 33% a Chelsea win and the remaining 31% going for a Luton Town win.
On paper, I’m not sure Rob Edwards, when the fixtures were released, would consider this a game Luton Town must win in their bid to retain their Premier League status, but, every so often, a result is achieved that many would have thought to be improbable, could tomorrow night be one of those nights?
COYH
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Luton Town – They Played For Both Revisited – Chelsea