Kabore back for Chelsea clash as Hatters boss eyes three top flight wins in a row

Luton boss Rob Edwards has made one change to his side for their final game of 2023 against Chelsea at Kenilworth Road this afternoon.

On-loan Manchester City wingback Issa Kabore returns after missing the 3-2 success over Sheffield United on Boxing Day, with Ryan Giles dropping to the bench. A win for the hosts today would make it three top flight victories in a row for the first time in over 30 years, as back in December 1991, Luton beat Coventry 1-0 at home and Arsenal 1-0 at home, also on Boxing Day, before completing a terrific trio when seeing off Chelsea 2-0 at Kenilworth Road.

On trying to emulate that record, Edwards said: “If we’re able to do that I’ll take satisfaction because we’re getting the points right now and that’s important.

“This club has got a brilliant history and then had tough times and I think it’s important that we all enjoy these moments now. It’s hard for me to do it but I want everyone else to do it if they can, to enjoy wins in the Premier League because it’s difficult.

“We have to be at full, full tilt every day in training, every game to compete at this level and the players are doing that and deserve a lot of credit. We should enjoy that, if the third one comes along tomorrow, we’ll all be delighted.”

Going into the game, Chelsea have lost their last three top flight matches on the road, winning just three away from Stamford Bridge all season, meaning they sit 10th in the table, some 12 points off the top four, despite spending over €1 billion since the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital takeover in May 2022.

They did however beat Crystal Palace 2-1 on Wednesday, as discussing their recent form, as Edwards continued: “We’ll expect the best Chelsea as we expect the best of every team that come up against us. We’ll try and play as well as we can, try and play to our strengths, try and take the spaces where we think they’ll be and try and play our game at home.

"We know at home we can be a match for anyone, so we go into the game in good form, confident, but also recognising the strengths that they have. There’s been lots of change at the club and I’ve got the utmost respect for Mauricio Pochettino, he’s one of the best managers in the world, and I think there’s a lot of players there now. It’s a young team and with young players they can be inconsistent at times, but it’s not for me to comment on them at all.

"You can look a lot deeper than results, you look at performances. They create chances, they dominate the ball, there’ll be a lot of things there that they’re happy with and they’re doing well. They’ve just come off on the wrong end of some results which by their high, high standards, they’ll be disappointed with, but we’ll expect the best Chelsea.

“There has to be belief to get something from the game and we’ll always believe going into every game. They’re still a team that can go up against anyone in the country and win on their day because they have the players to do that. We get it, we respect that and everyone’s got to understand that as well. Don’t just be rocking up thinking we’re going to win, we’re going to beat Chelsea.

“It’s certainly not going to be that easy. We have to be at our absolute best as we have been in recent weeks, and then we have a chance.”

Luton were beaten 3-0 at Stamford Bridge back in August, when a Raheem Sterling-inspired home side were too strong for the visitors who were still adapting to life in their new surroundings.

Discussing that day and just how much the Hatters have improved since then, Edwards added: “It’s funny, because we did a lot well in the game. We were playing slightly differently at the time, a bit of a different shape. At 60-odd minutes we were 1-0 down and we were actually in the game, pushing. Gileo (Ryan Giles) had a good chance, but Chelsea have got that quality to go bang, bang and they hit us with a couple of fairly quick goals and that was it, game done.

“But, the performance, we can take something from it that night. Both teams have played a number of games since then and there’s a lot of water under the bridge, but there’s probably little bits we can take.

“We’re still learning and improving and that’ll always be the case. Teams will have experienced playing against us before, this game’s slightly different as it was so early in the season and we were still very, very new to the league,

“We’re more aggressive now in terms of our press, especially at home. We’re beginning to have more spells and a little bit more control with the ball as well. I don’t think it necessarily suits us to be a team that’s going to dominate or control a game with the ball, but we are evolving. I like the way we’re going, we still want to attack quickly, we still want to get crosses in the box, we’re still good at set-pieces, so all those things we work hard on.

"But I think we’re a bit more used to the physical demands of the league, the speed that everything happens, so I think we’re a little bit more in tune with that.”

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Issa Kabore, Teden Mengi, Gabe Osho, Amari'i Bell (C), Alfie Doughty, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend, Jacob Brown, Elijah Adebayo.

Subs: Tim Krul, Tahith Chong, Cauley Woodrow, Mads Andersen, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Chiedozie Ogbene, Carlton Morris, Jordan Clark, Ryan Giles.

Blues: Djordje Petrovic, Axel Disasi, Thiago Silva, Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson, Armando Broja, Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher (C), Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto.

Subs: Marcus Bettinelli, Lucas Bergstrom, Raheem Sterling, Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Christopher Nkunku, Ian Maatsen, Alfie Gilchrist, Alex Matos.

Referee: Paul Tierney.