With the horrific disappointment of last Sunday’s trip to West Ham’s London Stadium still fresh on my mind, there was only one thing to do. Head straight back down to Stamford Bridge for our first Friday night game of the season.
I’ve always maintained that the 8pm slot on Friday night is by far the best kick off time the Premier League has to offer, provided it’s a somewhat local opponent of course, which Luton certainly are. Coupled with the fact that it’s a bank holiday weekend, you can see why I was licking my lips at the prospect of this tie.
We last played Luton back in March 2022 and I was fortunate enough to get a ticket in the away end of Kenilworth Road. To be honest, I’m still in complete disbelief that Luton have made it into the Premier League and it is an absolute testament to their allocation of resources. Even now in the Premier League, they’ve only spent ~£20million on incoming transfers. I, like pretty much everyone else, do fully expect them to go down this season. But by not going completely crazy on transfers like so many other clubs have, they should allow themselves to continue to be sustainable and their goal over the next ten or so years will be to cement their place as a Premier League regular.
Refusing to compromise on my dream Friday night, I was wise to take the entire day off work and headed over to SW6 just after half three with the goal of being seated in Nandos, with a plate of chicken, rice and garlic bread under my nose by 4:45. Needless to say, my plan was executed to perfection.
Feeling full, but very content, we made the short walk over to Sixes bar. Seemingly, every other Chelsea fan had unsurprisingly had the same idea as we had to take advantage of the kick off and it was packed. With just one working toilet, and some very dodgy beer taps, we decided to vacate to our usual watering hole, the Wolfpack. I was quickly left with egg on my face when this turned out to be full and with abuse filling my ears from the travelling pack, we made the short trip over to the Cock Tavern.
This is quite possibly my least favourite pub in the surrounding area but on this occasion it did prove itself to be very useful in shielding us from some hellish looking rain outside. All in all, the group was pretty confident going into this game, and there was really no reason not to be. I predicted a 3-0 win was ahead and did suspect, after his excellent performance at West Ham last week, that Raheem Sterling was poised to make an impact on the game.
There was certainly some frustration with the line up, playing a five at the back at home to Luton is not what I’d had in mind either. However, when you consider where we our in terms of injuries with nine players currently missing, I don’t entirely blame Poch. What I will say is that I do feel the formation seriously harms the impact of Ben Chilwell who now finds himself at left wing in attack. I’d love to see Ian Maatsen get the nod on Wednesday because he looked great in a more forward role in pre-season.
Any time you get a Friday night game, you’re going to get a good atmosphere and last night didn’t disappoint. Stamford Bridge under the lights is truly a sight to behold. My dream is to get one of Arsenal or Spurs in one of these slots because it would be a special special night from an atmosphere perspective.
We started the game strong once again and have looked so much more purposeful with our attacks this season. I’ve been genuinely impressed because whilst the finishing has been incredibly lacklustre, there’s clearly a game plan in place from an attacking perspective and I’m not sure when the last time we saw that was.
Raheem Sterling is someone who was criticised at numerous points last season, quite rightly too, in my opinion. These last two games he’s been a man-possessed however and was clearly the Man of the Match last night. He was pretty unlucky not to have a hat-trick but his first goal was one of the best I’ve seen at the Bridge in the last couple of years as he ducked and dived between Luton defenders.
Malo Gusto showed us something last night that we’ve sorely missed in the last couple of years. At long last, we have someone who can slot in at right back for Reece James without us having to change our entire system and game plan. The best way I can describe him is dynamic and time after time he went back and forth up the right side of the pitch. I’m excited to see how his partnership with Raheem develops.
The midfield three were excellent. Moisés Caicedo’s presence at the base of our midfield really allowed both Conor and Enzo to take their game up a notch offensively. This is particularly noticeable with Enzo who is finding himself in far more advanced positions than he was ever capable of getting into last season. His first goal for us is coming. Whilst he should’ve already had it last Sunday, I think we will see him hit the back of the net next Saturday. With the form he’s been displaying, it would be genuinely criminal if we let Conor Gallagher go this window. It’s clear Poch loves him too so I’m looking forward to a full-season of him in Blue.
Nicolas Jackson was excellent up top once again and deservedly got his first goal for us. There’s something about him that we’ve been so clearly missing in our other attacking options in recent years. It’s refreshing to see his confidence in the ball when driving forward and he’s not someone who’s going to be afraid to get a shot away. The anticipation and instinctive nature of his goal is again something we’ve missed dearly in previous seasons
Poch’s subs were interesting. I’ll be shocked if Marc Cucurella doesn’t find himself a move away from the club in the final days of the window because he’s yet to even see a single minute of the pitch. Ultimately, Wednesday night will prove telling if there’s any chance of him worming his way into Poch’s plans because Wimbledon would represent any excellent opportunity to give a few minutes to players whom have been lacking them thus far.
All in all, 3-0 was a deserved result for us. It could’ve been more, there’s no doubting that but I do expect our finishing to go up in quality over the course of the season. It really does feel like there’s a huge amount to be positive about at the moment.
After the game there was time for a trip back to the Wolf Pack. With New Zealand playing Australia in the Rugby, it’s fair to say that the post-game experience was almost entirely ruined by a load of drunk rugby fans. It felt slightly and rather worryingly unusual to be celebrating a win post-game but it was a nice feeling all the same. With Wimbledon and Forest at home in the next week, there are zero excuses to not make this three wins in a row for us.
Having walked Dad back to his hotel, there was time before one quick nightcap before I departed into the night. Up next, it’s Wimbledon at home where I’m looking forward to an away day in the West Stand, having been kick out of the Shed by the travelling Wimbledon fans.
The Shed Diaries 