Carabao Cup second round: Chelsea 2-0 Luton Town
Chelsea edged past the valiant efforts of Jack Wilshere’s Luton Town side to host Leeds United in the third round of the Carabao cup.
A 50th minute opener from evergreen veteran Danny Welbeck, before an own goal from Hakeem Odoffin following trickery from the Blues Brazilian teen talent Estevao was enough to beat the Hatters 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening.
With the close of the summer transfer window fast approaching Enzo Fernandez was left out of the Chelsea squad by boss Xabi Alonso. When asked about the Argentine’s omission, new Blues boss Alonso said: “We assessed situations, individual and collective and we have decided he is not in the squad for today.”
Suitors Manchester City have to be prepared to break the bank to land long-term target Fernandez – who featured for the Argentina side at this summer’s World Cup, including losing to Spain in the final. The coveted 25-year-old has been unable to negotiate a pay hike with the Blues, with the west Londoners club in a relaxed position regarding any possible exit as the former River Plate and Benfica attacker still has six years remaining on his contract.
Despite starting with a strong side – including England World Cup teammates Cole Palmer, and new £117m signing from Aston Villa, Morgan Rogers – in a bid build on the 3-2 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday evening, on the bench for Chelsea was Reggie Watson, the son of former Wigan midfielder Ben, who would have become the club’s fourth-youngest player of all time, at the tender age of 16 years and 214 days, if he had made an appearance.
While it was noticeable that Roberto Sanchez was also on the bench – with 21-year-old 6ft 7in keeper Mike Penders getting a League Cup start – perhaps it was more a case of the shaky net minder getting used to being a substitute, after the news broke shortly before kick that Chelsea had paid Aston Villa £7.5m for Emi Martinez.
Wilshere came into the clash with a win and a draw under this belt that saw the Hatters lie in third place in the embryonic League One table as the Bedfordshire side aim for a place back in the Championship. Which perhaps explained the large number of changes the former Arsenal and England midfielder made.
As the sun set over SW6, turning the clouds a beguilingly iridescent yellow, nearly as orange as Luton’s kit, it was the billionaires of Chelsea that made the brighter start, Hatters keeper Josh Keeley saving twice from the lively Palmer in the opening stages.
It was Keeley again who denied Chelsea, when diving full length to parry Blues captain Reece James’ free-kick in the 18th minute.
While Estavao fired narrowly wide four minutes before the break, Rogers hit the bar and Palmer fired over, credit had to be given to Wilshere’s committed Luton side, who refused to be cowed by their Premier League opponents, cheered on by their vociferous travelling support of nearly 6,000, which, at times, turned the Bridge into Kenilworth Road.
However, the Blues’ dominance eventually told when Alonso’s side when 1-0 ahead five minutes after the restart, through evergreen veteran Welbeck, who headed home Mali Gusto’s cross after being fed by Estavao.
Eight minutes later Welbeck nearly doubled the lead but dragged his low effort wide of Keeley’s far post.
Undaunted, Wilshere’s Hatters swept forward, with substitute Isaiah Jones firing wide, prior to Palmer clipping the apex of bar and post at the other end, as the game opened up. Livewire Jones then powered forward before releasing the ball to Kasey Palmer, whose stinging effort went just past Penders’s right-hand post.
As the clock ticked down, Estevao’s trickery in the box forced an own goal from Hatters No2 Odoffin, who puts through his own net after the Brazilian teenager’s low drive across keeper Keeley to settle proceedings.
