Chelsea vs Luton LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson shine

This is the first league meeting between the teams since they met in the top flight at Kenilworth Road in December 1991, when the Hatters won 2-0.

Chelsea XI: Sanchez, Disasi, Silva, Colwill, Gusto, Fernandez, Gallagher, Chilwell, Sterling, Caicedo, Jackson

Luton XI: Kaminski, Bell, Lockyer, Burke, Giles, Chong, Nakamba, Barkley, Kabore, Adebayo, Morris

Luton Town’s head coach, Rob Edwards, says he is ‘really looking forward’ to taking on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tonight and hopes his team enjoys playing in the top-flight.

“Really looking forward to it,” said Edwards. “It’s what we’ve all worked hard for. We as a football club have been out of the top-flight for a long time, everyone’s been dying for this so let’s go and enjoy it.

“But the best way to enjoy is by putting on a good performance and competing well. You can never guarantee a result, we’re going there to try and win and we’ll go there absolutely trying to do that.

“I’ve got huge respect for what Mauricio [Pochettino] has done in his career so far and he’s proved to be one of the best in the world. It’s great, and I’ll say this all the time.”

Carney Chukwuemeka has been ruled out for six weeks with a knee injury in a major blow to Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The teenager had started both of Chelsea’s opening Premier League games under Pochettino but came off in the 3-1 defeat at West Ham.

He underwent surgery on Monday, and posted on Instagram: “Minor setback but I will be back stronger than ever. Thank you Chelsea fans for your love and support. See you soon.”

Chukwuemeka was replaced Mykhailo Mudryk and the 22-year-old Ukrainian, who signed for around £62m last season, could now get an extended run in the team alongside Raheem Sterling Nicolas Jackson in Chelsea’s front three.

“I really believe in the squad and the quality of the squad,” added Pochettino.

“Now it’s only the process. We are in a good way. If we had four or six points it would help, but we need to be positive. It’s the beginning, we are going to win games. There’s no doubt the quality is there, it’s only a matter of time.

“There have been many positive things. We need to give them time to perform, but we have good balance. Even the younger players have experience, like Enzo [Fernandez]. He’s a World Cup champion.

“Of course the Premier League is different, but then it’s about how we are capable of organising the team and creating a team that plays really well.

“The priority is to play well, but then you have to compete. That’s another football. Set-pieces etc. In that football you need some experienced players, but we have good balance. It’s only about improving this, and for sure we are going to do that.”

“I was telling the players in the pre-match meeting we need to match the aggression of the Luton players,” revealed Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino when speaking about tonight’s clash with Luton.

“If we match all this, the will and everything, we presume we have better quality and we will win. But if not, the game can be crazy and we can win or we can lose. That is football.

“It’s going to be a tough game. We were analysing them and they are a strong team. It’s so clear the way they play, 5-3-2, really fast in transition, really strong in set-pieces.

“It’s a team we need to respect and be careful and be ready to match them in the way they play, and then be clear in the way we play and try to make a difference.”

Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has stressed the need for Mauricio Pochettino to be given time but knows not all of the club’s big-money signings will handle the pressure.

The Blues are without a win after two matches of this season’s Premier League after an encouraging 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool was followed up by Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham.

Chelsea have spent more than £350million on transfers this summer, which has taken their overall outlay under Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium to nearly £1billion since he completed his takeover at the end of the 2021-22 season.

Luton have won just one of their last seven league away matches versus Chelsea with one draw and five defeats.

That victory was a 3-1 top-flight win in September 1986.

Chelsea have won the last three meetings with Luton in all competitions, with all of these games coming in the FA Cup between 1994 and 2022.

Will they make it four wins from four tonight?

In truth, we could be talking about any clubs. In truth, this applies to several fixtures across the coming weekend in the Premier League. But it perhaps has most relevance to the Stamford Bridge clash on Friday night, where Chelsea are hosting Luton Town, a meeting of financial Goliaths and Davids, of monetary men and mice, of the extravagant and the efficient.

It’s a simple statement, but it holds undeniable truth: as early as it is in the 2023/24 season, given their respective objectives can these clubs afford to be wasting early opportunities to get points on the board?

Of course, for Luton the very notion of taking their first top-flight point since 1996 away to Chelsea might be considered unlikely to many. They had until this month, after all, been in the Conference Premier more recently than they had been in the former Premier League, the old First Division.