Chelsea win despite late Luton fightback

Cole Palmer scored twice for Chelsea as they survived a late Luton fightback to win at Kenilworth Road.

Noni Madueke netted for the second successive match for the Blues, who seemed to be in total control.

But in the final stages, Elijah Adebayo had a goal disallowed for offside and headed against the bar, Ross Barkley scored against his former club and Luton striker Carlton Morris also headed against the bar before Adebayo pulled another goal back.

Chelsea remain 10th in the Premier League table.

“It was a very difficult game, but I am so pleased,” said boss Mauricio Pochettino.

“Luton are a team that fight until the end, you could see that from their games against Liverpool and Arsenal and Man City and Newcastle. It is so difficult to break them down.

“But the team was very good. I’m very pleased with the performance. We controlled the game until the 65th minute. We needed to win and we deserved the result.

“Of course we suffered a little bit in the last few minutes when we conceded two goals, but overall it’s a good result to build our confidence for the new year.”