Chelsea survived a late Luton Town fightback to return to winning ways on the road on Saturday with a 3-2 victory at Kenilworth Road, with Cole Palmer netting twice either side of a fine Noni Madueke strike.
The expensively assembled Blues had lost their previous four Premier League away games but looked certain to claim all three points when they were 3-0 up with little more than 10 minutes of normal time left.
Palmer put the Blues ahead in the 12th minute when he pounced on an error by Luton defender Issa Kaboré to unleash a fierce angled shot that flew past Thomas Kaminski.
Palmer was at the heart of Chelsea’s second goal in the 37th minute when he was found by left-back Levi Colwill on the break, and the former Manchester City man teed up Madueke, who created just enough space to fire high into Kaminski’s net.
It was the second goal in two games for the winger who came on as a substitute on Wednesday versus Crystal Palace to score a late winner from the penalty spot in a 2-1 victory for Chelsea.
In the 70th minute, the visitors seemed to have dealt Luton a final blow when Nicolas Jackson split the home defense to find Palmer, who kept his cool to round Kaminski and hold off a gaggle of defenders to make it 0-3 to the visitors.
Former Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley scored what looked like a consolation goal for the hosts when he headed in from an Alfie Doughty corner in the 80th minute.
Seven minutes later Elijah Adebayo reduced the deficit to just one goal, but Luton failed to get an equalizer despite almost incessant pressure in the dying moments, roared on by their fans in their small stadium.
“For us, at 3-0 the game looks over but in the Premier League it is never over,” Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino told the BBC.
“We need to show more capacity to manage this type of situation. When you have something in your hands you don’t want to lose it and you go deeper.”
Luton coach Rob Edwards hailed his players for not giving up and almost securing a point against their more illustrious rivals.
“They were hanging on. We can take a lot from that and the performances have been good,” Edwards told TNT Sports. “Maybe we are changing the narrative around us perhaps a little bit, and people are seeing it a bit more.”
The victory left Chelsea in 10th place while Luton remain in the relegation zone in 18th spot.
