Chelsea ended their 2023 campaign on high with an hard fought victory over Luton on Saturdy with goals from Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer to earn a 3-2 away win.
Chelsea held off a late Luton fightback to end a run of four away defeats in the Premier League.
Goals from Palmer (12′, 70′) and Madueke (37′) gave Chelsea the lead before a late fightback from Luton in the 80 and 87th minutes by Barkley and Adebayo respectively.
The Blues have endured an horrible campaign losing more Premier League games (19) than anyone else across the calendar year, but battled to victory at Kenilworth Road despite nearly throwing away a three-goal lead in the closing stages.
Madueke’s driven near-post second, eight minutes before the break, gave Luton a real uphill task though the hosts always looked capable of getting themselves back into the game.
That finally looked out of sight when Nicolas Jackson released Palmer to coolly round Kaminski and slot home a third with 20 minutes to go.
However, Elijah Adebayo briefly gave Luton hope with a close-range header – only for VAR to spot a narrow offside in the build-up.
The hope was restored when Ross Barkley’s near-post header nestled in the far corner with 10 minutes to go, and six later Adebayo nodded home Alfie Doughty’s rebound to get Kenilworth Road rocking.
But Chelsea finally showed the resilience they have lacked for much of this season to hold on to victory.
The Blues picked their first three points on the road since November 6, and leave Luton stranded in the bottom three.
