Rob Edwards thinks that Chelsea might not yet at their best, but knows his Luton side have to do the basics better than they did against Brighton to stand a chance against them on Friday night.
Town opened their first-ever Premier League campaign with a 4-1 defeat on the south coast and then sat out the weekend’s round of fixtures after the home match against Burnley was postponed before the season due to Kenilworth Road still undergoing a revamp.
Chelsea lost 3-1 to West Ham United, having drawn 1-1 with Liverpool on the opening weekend, as they try to embed a host of new signings, the two latest of which has seen them spend a British transfer record fee of up to £115million, with add-ons, on Brighton’s Moises Caicedo and an initial £53million on Romeo Lavia.
They’re two of 12 new recruits this summer, while the Blues have also lost the likes of experienced Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kai Havertz, N’Golo Kane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount among 15 departures.
Town have added ten new players, with five handed their debut at the Amex Stadium, but have kept a core of players that got them promoted to the top flight.
And Edwards hopes the wholesale changes made by Chelsea, under new manager Mauricio Pochettino, could provide a chink in the armour of the Blues.
“They’ve brought in a lot of top players but they’re still a new team and building as well,” the Hatters boss told Sky Sports, ahead of Friday’s televised tussle.
“I’m expecting them to be a real tough challenge but they might not be at their best and have the most rhythm right now.
“But, again, like Brighton was last week, it’s as difficult a test as you can get, away from home in the Premier League, but we’re really looking forward to it.”
Edwards knows Luton will have to cut out the mistakes that cost them so dearly at Brighton, which included a killer Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu error that put an end to short-lived hope of a revival against the Seagulls when Carlton Morris briefly reduced the score to 2-1.
He said: “There were a lot of good things, but there are things we can improve on quickly and those were basics. A lot of it can be closing gaps, doing the running, doing the work earlier.
“At this level and especially against that level of opposition, they see a gap, they’ll take the space and they can play the pass as well.
“We can take a lot of positives from it. At 84 minutes we’re 2-1 down, we’re in the game and we gifted them the third goal and then we’re chasing it. We got caught in between a little bit and we’d gone to 4-4-2. There was a bit too much space then and we’re thinking, ‘can we get back in it?’
“They then go and get some more chances and obviously get the fourth goal as well. But we’re in the game, away from home against top opposition until the 84th, 85th minute.
“So, we can take that but we don’t want to be gifting anything like we did in that game. I think it’s quite obvious as well. Let’s not pass it to them in our own box.”
