Tammy Abraham speaks.
It’s great to score a hat-trick and win so comfortably. Luton are a good side. It’s always nice to get a win. Hopefully we can build off that form now. We have a game on Wednesday and hopefully we can build on the confidence from here.
Frank lives to fight until Wolves, and Tammy Abraham has a hat-trick. The questions will not go away as Chelsea were expected to win this one. Abraham should have scored more and that late Werner penalty miss betrayed the flagging confidence that still haunts a number of Chelsea players.
90+3 min: Giroud goes hunting for a goal but his shot ends up going through a crowd.
90 min: Luton now trying to keep the score down while Chelsea’s forwards are looking for another goal. They have three more minutes of time to find one.
89 min: Havertz gets involved but all he can do is win a goal kick for Luton. Chelsea’s next manager will be a German. Let’s see what he and Werner are like then.
88 min: Werner looks aghast. These are bad tidings from what’s been a heartening game from Chelsea.
Sluga saves well, but it was at the right height. Oh Timo, oh no. Begs the question why he was taking a mercy penalty. He was on a hiding to nothing taking it.
85 min: Kovacic’s first touch is a pass that sends Werner away. Clark brings him down. A penalty, no question.
84 min: Off goes Mason Mount, who hands his captain’s armband to Kovacic, his replacement.
82 min: Luton corner. It comes back out, Moncur tries to get the ball back into the area, but Chelsea clear. Werner puts Giroud into a position to chip that Sluga deals well with.
81 min: Point of order from Tom Porter: “Any other keeper than Kepa and no one makes much fuss about that. Sluga’s mistake on the second was atrocious - far worse than Kepa’s.”
80 min: Nathan Jones wants more from his players. He hasn’t given up on this one, not at all. Hope springs eternal.
79 min: Benjamin Park has been in touch: “Chelsea seem to lack a system. During the Leicester game I remember thinking about how the Leicester players all knew what to do. They knew where their teammates were and what move they’d make. Chelsea on the other hand look like a bunch of individuals, a lack of understanding. Everyone knows Frank is smart, even those that refuse to admit it, but is he ready for this job? I don’t think so. But I could be talking bovine waste.”
77 min: Two Chelsea subs: Off go Abraham and Ziyech and on come Havertz and Giroud.
76 min: Kepa was scrabbling there. George Moncur, just on as a sub, bends his shot wide.
75 min: Some cheer for Frank Lampard; Hudson-Odoi has made the difference since coming on.
He has his hat-trick at last. Lovely one-two between Hudson-Odoi and Gilmour and Abraham cannot miss from there.
73 min: Hudson-Odoi gets to the left-hand byline and Abraham heads wide. Is that his seventh big chance? Frank Lampard was not impressed by that header.
71 min: Instant chance for Hudson-Odoi, who can’t get James’ ball down quickly enough and is blocked as he attempts to shoot.
70 min: Werner falls to the floor, and goes down under Mpanzu’s arm. It doesn’t look like a penalty. Chelsea bring on Hudson-Odoi. Pulisic will be coming off. He seems to be injured.
68 min: Luton the better side at the moment. Chelsea’s fluency in possession seems to have deserted them, and the nerves have returned.
66 min: Another Abraham chance, another one that misses the target. Can a player be unhappy after scoring twice? Tammy might be. He could have had a double hat-trick.
65 min: They perhaps shouldn’t be in the game, as Chelsea have had a multitude of chances but these are vital minutes.
64 min: Luton are in this game, make no mistake about that.
63 min: Luton’s second corner, and Kepa makes a point-blank save from Lockyer. There was a flag on the play though.
62 min: Triple sub from Nathan Jones, who agonised at that miss. Off go Tunncliffe, Bree and Cornick, and on come Berry, LuaLua and Bree. That Cornick chance was the striker’s final kick of the match.
60 min: A Luton chance is created by a surge from Dan Potts, and a pass to Mpanzu then finds its way to Cornick, and Kepa makes the save. It was a little close to Kepa though that’s not always guaranteed to stop a goal.
58 min: More Chelsea pressure as Ziyech’s blast comes off a pile of bodies. Last-ditch stuff from Luton, who just can’t get out.
57 min: Chelsea pushing on and creating loads of chances. Pulisic and Mount fashion a chance and Lockyer has to deflect the ball behind. He didn’t know much about it.
56 min: Some wizardry from Ziyech takes four players with him, and he slots the ball back to Mount who then smashes the ball over the bar.
55 min: Luton look to break but Naismith is halted by a fine James tackle. The next goal is vital, he said obviously. Frank Lampard does not look too satisfied.
53 min: Chelsea force a corner. Ziyech takes, but goes short and Pulisic crosses and Abraham fails to get on the end of it. He really should have done. He could have had five in this game.
51 min: Kepa comes out to deal with a long goal kick. This time, no calamity, and he chests it down and plays a neat pass.
49 min: Luton look far brighter but the ball breaks to Pulisic, who then has a shot saved by Sluga. Pulisic is down, and looks hurt. Though his pride should be hurt; Ziyech had laid that on a plate for him.
47 min: Luton have gone four at the back, and are pushing up. After all, they’re the team who need a goal.
46 min: And now they are actually playing. It’s been a while. And the snow is back in session too.
Half-time sub: Dan Potts, once of West Ham, is on for Luton, replacing Steve Rea.
That half-time break was almost 20 minutes. Nathan Jones has to sprint on the icy pathway back into the ground. A poor show from his lot.
Luton take their time over arriving back on the field, and the talk is of a dodgy clock in their dressing room. And finally they begin to make their way back on.
On the balance of play, Chelsea should be many goals ahead, and looked to have the tie won with those two goals from Tammy Abraham. Then came Kepa’s error, something to give Luton belief and Frank Lampard cannot afford to relax.
45+2 min: A final chance for Luton, with a free-kick on the edge of the box. Cornick headed down and this time Kepa does make a save.
45 min: James on the overlap, Werner gets the ball and loses it. Luton protecting their foothold in the game. Two minutes have been added on.
44 min: Luton sat back in big numbers. They have a corner to defend, and it’s a poor one that Tom Lockyer gets away. Then, Mount does well, beating two defenders and sending in a cross. Abraham can’t get to it; he could have had four already.
42 min: Good save from Sluga from a Mount snapshot. Chelsea pushing on for theier third.
41 min: Timo Werner, after setting up that first goal, seems to have disappeared again. It seems like he and Pulisic are being asked to play the same role and the American is seeing far more of the ball.
39 min: Bradley comes across to stop Pulisic and Chelsea have a corner which is comfortably cleared by Luton. That Kepa mistake has flushed them with confidence.
37 min: Tammy Abraham might have had a hat-trick but got no sort of contact on a Reece James pass played across goal. Pulisic was slow to follow up too.
34 min: Pulisic tries to curl one in but it goes over the bar.
On that two-ball thing for Chelsea’s first, some comments. First, Mike in Canada: “I think that two balls on the pitch might inject some much needed excitement into the upcoming Man U vs Liverpool game based on how dull the match earlier this week was.”
Then comes Lane: “If there are two balls on the pitch play is stopped until one is removed. That’s always been the rule. Under VAR we are in a Trumpian dystopia where the rules ar3e whatever the media wants to make them to suit their narrative. Football has already been damaged - much more of this and it will be fatally wonded. GET RID OF VAR AND CURTAIL THE INFLUENCE OF MURDOCH AND TV COMPANIES. WE WANT FOOTBALL BACK!!!!!!!”
And J Black: “Two balls on the pitch and throw in taken 7 yards up the pitch. The goal shouldn’t have stood under laws of game, officials at fault and its “not crying over spilt milk””
32 min: David Coote, the referee, gets in the way of Chelsea free-kick routine. The officialdom has been a bit wonky in this game, what with the two-ball thing.
A Kepa kalamity! Jordan Clark’s shot is low and the goalkeeper is a little unsighted but he has to do better than that. Luton are back in it. Oh Frank!
29 min: Pulisic goes close, choosing his right foot to hit a first-time shot and a good low save from Sluga’s foot gets the danger cleared.
27 min: Zouma looks troubled still but wins a header when the ball is whacked up long.
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