Edwards felt Blues defeat was a game of 'what if' for his courageous Hatters side

Luton chief Rob Edwards felt this afternoon’s 3-2 defeat against Chelsea could be described a game of ‘what if’ for his battling side.

The Hatters looked like they staring down the barrel of a hefty reverse when Cole Palmer waltzed through the Tpwn back-line to put the Blues 3-0 up with 69 minutes gone, adding to his own first half strike when taking advantage of Issa Kabore’s poor pass and Noni Madueke’s powerful finish. But rather than go into the shells and let their goal difference take a hammering, Luton, who hadn’t really troubled visiting keeper Djordje Petrovic in the opening 70 minutes, made sure that most definitely wasn’t the case.

Elijah Adebayo had a goal ruled out for offside, as he put another header against the bar, before Ross Barkley glanced Alfie Doughty’s corner into the bottom corner to pull one back with 10 to go. Substitute Carlton Morris struck the woodwork via the fingertips of the Serbian stopper, before Adebayo volleyed in after Doughty’s back post header was saved on 87 minutes.

Town then camped in Chelsea’s half for the final moments, but couldn’t force a leveller, the closest they came a Tahith Chong cross that sped through the six yard box and out for a goal kick.

Although it meant Luton finished 2023 with a defeat and remained inside the bottom three, Edwards was hugely enthused by what he saw, saying: “It’s a little bit of a game of what if, if only. The performance was brilliant though. I know they went three nil up, so that probably changes people's perceptions a little bit, but we were incredibly brave.

"It was difficult to find a way through and really create too much in the first half when the game is still a little bit tighter. They were defending very, very well, and they’re really good players. It’s hard to find a way past people like Thiago Silva. It’s difficult, but that being said, I thought we were really aggressive, we were on the foot foot, asking questions.

"We gifted them the first goal which makes it a challenge, second goal I thought was brilliant skill from Madueke. It’s a brilliant goal, which we knew, we respected their quality, we knew they had that. The individuals, the front four are electric, just even in moments if they’re not at it consistently through the game.

"But I thought we started the second half really aggressively, great intent, made some changes, and really attacked the game, continued to attack the game I should say. It wasn’t really a different message, it was just some different personnel in some different places and then a third goal which is avoidable, but when we were in the ascendancy.

"What pleased me most then was that game could then go one way or another. Chelsea could go four, five, six, seven and we’ve seen that in the Premier League against better teams than us. For the players to then go and do what they did, I think then shows how special they are. So I know we’ve not got anything from the game, but I’ll be able to sleep easier tonight than if we’d have just given up and gone and got beaten four or five.

"We showed fight, we showed heart, we showed loads of quality, we took the ball, had more of the ball than they did and that doesn’t really happen. We took the ball and were really brave, we carried on being aggressive and wrestled the game back in terms of a result. We were in the ascendancy, we almost wrestled the result back, so I’m incredibly proud of the lads.”

The Hatters ended up with 52 percent of the ball throughout the contest, the first time they have had more possession than an opposition team this term, and six shots on target too, a world away from the 3-0 reverse they suffered at Stamford Bridge back in August when they were just building into their top flight campaign.

Although Luton remained inside the relegation zone, Edwards felt the display showed they can stay up in this term, adding: “If I look at the progress we’ve made from when we played Chelsea in the second game of the season to that game there, I like the way that we’re going.

"If we can continue to improve and keep working the right way then we give ourselves a chance, I don't think anyone can really doubt that, I’m not saying we’re going to do it and we’re going to stay up, I believe we can, but we can give ourselves a chance with the performance that we’ve been giving over the last couple of months.”