Jones elated with 'prestigious' FA Cup trip to Stamford Bridge

Luton boss Nathan Jones was thrilled to get a 'prestigious' draw in the FA Cup fourth round last night, with the Hatters away at Premier League giants Chelsea.

Town came close to a trip to Stamford Bridge two years ago, but were unable to defeat Sheffield Wednesday at home in a replay, but they will now travel to Frank Lampard's side over the weekend of January 22-25.

Speaking to the Hatters official website, Jones said: "It’s a great draw against a wonderful Premier League side.

"We love testing ourselves and this will be a massive, massive test.

“We are delighted we avoided someone else from our league and it gives us something different to experience.

"To go to such a prestigious Premier League club will be a special occasion which we’ll be looking forward to.

“We’ve got two competitions to fight for and it gives it a real added incentive – it’s a wonderful draw.

“We’ve been very fortunate this year that we’ve beaten Reading twice and drawn two of the biggest clubs in world football straight after."

The one major issue for Jones though is that, as against Manchester United, there will be no Town fans present to witness a first trip to Stamford Bridge since August 1991, due to coronavirus restrictions.

He added: "The real, real shame of both this, and the Manchester United one in the Carabao Cup, is that the fans can’t be there again.

"In the one year we get unbelievable draws in the cup competitions, there can’t be any supporters at either and that’s the thing I’m gutted about.

“We’d have taken seven, eight, nine, 10,000 fans – whatever allocation they’d have given us, our fans would have snapped them up in minutes, like when we went to Newcastle three years ago.

“The club would have earned a fortune from these two cup games this season, and if ever there was a season that clubs needed the extra revenue from cup runs, it’s this one.

“Our supporters have been unbelievable and buying season tickets to keep this club going, and we will go there and make sure we do them proud.”

The winners of the fourth round clash will travel to Barnsley or Norwich in the fifth round after both draws were made last night.