Let’s make it as ‘nasty as possible’ for Chelsea as Hylton jokes over ‘quaking in his boots’ Kante 

Danny Hylton says Luton players and Hatters fans have to make tomorrow night’s FA Cup fifth round visit of Chelsea as “nasty” and “scrappy” as possible to pull off a giant-killing.

Town are currently the in-form team in the Championship, having taken 25 points since the turn of the year to burst into the play-of places at the weekend. 

That came courtesy of Hylton’s first second tier strike at Kenilworth Road against Derby, but the prospect of toppling the current European and Club World Cup champions will be a much tougher affair. 

The 33-year-old isn’t planning on giving the Blues an easy ride though, saying: “We watch them on Match of the Day every week and see them on Sky Sports. We know these players are top, top players. We’re going to enjoy the occasion, but we’re going to enjoy running around, kicking them, getting amongst them and making it scrappy. 

“If you want to have a football game with Chelsea there’s only going to be one winner. They’re the best players in the world but they’re not going to want tempo, making it nasty and getting amongst them. 

“We’ll need to do all these things, then we’ll have to be good on the ball as well. We have to be brave. 

“The crowd are going to be vital for making it as nasty as possible. It’s a game we’ll enjoy and we’ll give them respect but we’ll enjoy it more if we win.”

Hylton frightened the life out of Newcastle defenders the last time he went up against top-flight opposition in the FA Cup, back in 2018, but tomorrow night will be another step up in the quality of opposition against a superstar squad of internationals. 

No stranger to the dark arts himself, when asked who in the Chelsea squad he’ll be targeting, Hylton said: “I’ve got to try to get near them first. I might not be able to get close enough. Whoever plays we’ll enjoy it, work hard and we’ll see what happens.”

The hitman has enjoyed one of his best weeks on the pitch for Luton since they returned to the Championship, with two goals in two games to move him to 61 goals for the club. 

Manager Nathan Jones has credited him as being the catalyst to Luton’s lightning rise up through the Football League, but asked if Blues boss Thomas Tuchel will know about him, Hylton joked: 

“I think he’s sent all the clips. I think N’Golo Kante will be quaking in his boots over the next few days.  No, listen, whether it’s me or whoever we’ll go out there, give it our all and enjoy it.

“Luton love being the underdog. We love playing against a bigger team and people giving us no chance. It’s going to be like that on Wednesday, everyone else fully expects us to lose outside of Luton and our team.”