Chelsea survive late Luton fightback

A brace from Cole Palmer and another goal from Noni Madueke was enough to give Chelsea a 3-2 win over a spirited Luton Town team.

The Blues were ahead just 12 minutes into the game when Cole Palmer took advantage of a Luton mistake. Issa Kaboré played a criminal pass to the Chelsea man whose precision finish beat Thomas Kaminski and found the corner of the net.

The second came in the 37th minute with Luton's defending again suspect. A quick Chelsea break saw Noni Madueke pick up the ball in the area with Hatters defenders in front of him, however, the 21-year-old was given enough time and space to shimmy his hips and then fire a rocket of a shot in.

Palmer got his second of the goal midway through the second half when the former Manchester City man found space in behind the Luton defence. Nicolas Jackson played the ball through Palmer who was able to skilfully get the ball past the charging Kaminski before tapping it home.

3-0 up in 70 minutes usually means it's game over but Luton still had plenty of fight back in them and almost pulled one back when Elijah Adebayo headed in but the goal was ruled out due to Alfie Doughty being offside in the build-up.

The home side had to wait until 10 minutes before time before getting on the scoresheet. A corner from Doughty was headed past Djordje Petrovic by former Chelsea man Ross Barkley.

Luton gave themselves some late hope when Chiedozie Ogbene's cross from the right was met by the head of Doughty. Petrovic did well to stop the powerful effort but his save went straight to Adebayo who was able to convert from close-range.

Despite that late Luton surge, Chelsea were able to hold on record their third win in their last four Premier League games.

xG: Luton Town (2.81) 2-3 (1.56) Chelsea

 

 

 

 

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