After a heart-breaking end to an enthralling Carabao Cup Final clash with Liverpool last Sunday, Thomas Tuchel will be hoping his side can take another step forwards to returning to Wembley Stadium.
Highflying Championship side Luton Town welcome the World Champions to Kenilworth Road on Wednesday.
Chelsea will be hoping to put their Cup Final loss to the back of their mind as they set their eyes on going one better in the FA Cup this season.
The Blues suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Leicester City in the FA Cup Final last season, courtesy of a Youri Tielemans wonder goal midway through the second half.
The Chelsea boss said in his pre-match press conference: "We now have a lot of players with a physical overload. We have some injuries from the match. In the moment it is too much to comment, it’s a massive list. We need to see, we have training today. The physios, the doctors are working with the players. We are finding out and can take the last decision tomorrow morning when we have the departure to Luton and see who’s ready to play. We want to be ready to play. We suffered, the third time we played overtime. It was an intense match. This is where we are.”
Form Guide
The Blues come into this game off the back of suffering their first defeat in eight games, the last being their narrow loss to Manchester City in January. The World Champions will be looking to put Sunday’s final to the back of their mind as they focus on achieving another Wembley visit.
As for Luton, they’ve only lost two out of thirteen games they’ve played this calendar year, leaving them in a very good position to reach this year’s play offs. They will certainly prove to be a tough test for Tuchel’s side.
Previous Meetings
It has only been just over a year since these sides met. A fourth round tie at Stamford Bridge saw Chelsea victorious courtesy of a Tammy Abraham hat trick in a 3-1 win over The Hatters.
In the history of this fixture, Luton have never been easy for the Blues to play. The sides have met 44 times with Chelsea winning 18 times and suffering defeat on 14 occasions.
Where to watch on TV
The match will be broadcasted live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
What the managers have said
During his press conference, Thomas Tuchel addressed what his side needs to do to reach the FA Cup Quarter Finals and respond to their heartache penalty shootout loss to Liverpool on Sunday.
He said: "In football the most important match is the next one. This starts tomorrow evening and we have some obstacles to overcome and have some boxes to tick if we want to win there.
"We need the right motivation, again the right attitude, we need full commitment. It is demanding and still we expect it from us. Is it the easiest, closest, most realistic?
"I don’t know. Let’s see what’s going on tomorrow. If we want to talk about it (winning the FA Cup) we need to win tomorrow.”
Luton Town Boss Nathan Jones is relishing the idea and challenge Chelsea present on Wednesday night and hopes his side can put on a performance that their fans deserve.
“It is one for the fans. The manner in which they supported us through covid, supported the club and what they did, we really wanted to give them something a little bit different and with the greatest of respect, playing against Harrogate and Cambridge was wonderful, a real bit of romance but we wanted a big tie so the fans can see us come up against a big Premier League team.
“Player for player we’re not as good, as a team we have unity but in terms of everything, they are on a different planet to us at this moment in time. Finances, structure, size of the owner and everything, we’re going to have to use every little advantage we possibly can but what we have to do is work. We believe in our work and a lot of things will have to come right. We will need God on our side, it’s a very difficult tie but a great one.”