Premier League preview: Chelsea vs Luton Town
Heading into their third game of the season, Chelsea are still looking for their first win. And after losing to ten-man West Ham at the weekend, the Blues’ status as big-spending punchline continues.
Maybe that will change as the season unfolds; victory against Luton seems the least we should expect at Stamford Bridge on Friday. The Hatters were beaten 4-1 by Brighton in their opening game of the season, and are likely to find acclimatising to the Premier League a daunting task.
Pochettino will be frantic for the win
If the unthinkable happens and Chelsea mess this up, the clamour around the team’s underachievement will only increase. Yet even if the hosts win comfortably, it almost doesn’t matter; any reasonable observer would expect the West London side to come out on top here.
Either way, Mauricio Pochettino will nevertheless be frantic to take the three points. With defeat to the Irons on Sunday, Chelsea extended their recent poor record in the Prem to just five wins in 31 games.
And when it comes to goalscoring, Chelsea’s home record remains astonishingly meagre, given recent transfer expenditure. In their last seven games at the Bridge, they’ve scored a total of five goals, drawing blanks against the likes of Aston Villa and Brentford.
Still, you have to think that playing host to a modest Luton side, Poch’s side can pick up that first “W” of the season – and hopefully, plunder a few goals, even if the visitors seek to shut up shop.
But perhaps a few goals is ambitious, given Chelsea’s problems. Their highest scorer last season, Kai Havertz, has departed. Raheem Sterling looked pretty good against West Ham, but so far in 2023 he’s scored three league goals.
There’s always the possibility the hosts finally deliver a drubbing, but we’ve been waiting for one of those for a while. Maybe tempering our expectations is the way to go; under 2.5 goals is a 6/4 shot. It would have paid off in five of Chelsea’s last seven home games. Alternatively, you could back Chelsea to win and BTTS No in a double at 22/25.
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