Chelsea 3-1 Luton Town
Tammy Abraham’s hat-trick saw Chelsea past Luton Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup, in a snowy game that was much tighter than Frank Lampard would have hoped for.
The England striker swept an early low finish into the corner from a Timo Werner cutback, nodded Reece James’ lofted ball home, and tapped in to complete a lovely team move late on.
Abraham’s opener came in the 11th minute after a purposeful start, although Luton were unhappy about two balls being on the pitch in the build-up.
Indecision from Luton keeper Simon Sluga allowed Abraham to double the lead in the 17th minute, before he kept out Christian Pulisic who was let in by a Werner dummy.
It was two steps forward, one step back when a mistake from Kepa Arrizabalaga let Luton back into the game on 30 minutes with their first shot on target, something all too familiar for him.
A James Bree right-wing cross found Jordan Clark who hit a first-time half-volley low that Kepa got a hand to but squirmed over the line.
A succession of Chelsea chances saw Pulisic, Abraham and captain Mason Mount go close after half time.
Then some Kepa redemption saw him make a good save to prevent a Harry Cornick equaliser, as the game became surprisingly even, before Abraham finally made the game safe in the 74th minute, finishing off a move that took Chelsea the length of the field.
Werner’s misery continued as Sluga saved his late penalty, but Chelsea advanced to visit Barnsley in the next round.
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