World champions Chelsea make the short trip to Championship Luton tonight in round five of the FA Cup, just three days after losing England’s other major final. As former Blues coach Carlo Ancelotti observed, ‘football is the most important of the less important things in the world’ and the game continues with this quest for historic success, 150 years after the FA sent out its first invitations to clubs.

March has much in store for the Londoners on three fronts: a chance to reach cup quarter-finals at home and abroad, and influence the fates of three relegation candidates. Six of the Blues’ next eight matches take place away from the Fulham Road.

As things stand the Londoners need three wins to reach our third FA Cup final in a row, having lost to Arsenal in 2019/20 and Leicester last season.

The Hatters have reached this stage for the first time since 2013, when they became the first non-league side in the Premier League era to oust a top-flight club, Norwich, from the competition. They were runners-up to Nottingham Forest in 1958/59.

The Bedfordshire club will be fresher physically as well as mentally as they won at home to Derby on Saturday, their seventh outing in February and 36th in all. Sunday’s Carabao Cup final was Chelsea’s 43rd tussle in all competitions.

The Blues have not won at the compact Kenilworth Road ground since December 1989, when goals from twin strikers Kevin Wilson and Kerry Dixon toppled the Hatters 3-0. Four-and-a-half years later Dixon was in the Luton team beaten 1-0 by the Blues in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Outside of finals, Chelsea have lost only once in this competition since January 2017 and are aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Chelsea team news

One hand gives and the other takes away for Thomas Tuchel at the moment. Among the highlights on Sunday were brilliant returns for Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James, but many others are not quite right after Sunday’s extra time and 22 penalties, adding doubts to definite absentees Ben Chilwell and Hakim Ziyech. Andreas Christensen also missed Sunday’s game with an achilles injury.

Tuchel handed his squad a day off on Monday for physical rest and the clearing of minds. The loss of silverware to a big rival was compensated by the highest quality performance for a long time (except in front of goal, of course).

The guile and the graft of early season were back and there were unstoppable passages of attacking play that should stand the Blues in good stead for the challenges ahead. He has predicted it will not be hard to pick them up for a very different experience at Kenilworth Road.

Arriving three days after the emotion of Wembley and three before a physical examination at Turf Moor, this match could see Sunday’s unused substitutes Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Saul, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Malang Sarr all contributing.

Jorginho, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku (denied his superbly taken goal in the final by a marginal offside call) could all be in with a chance of first 11 duty in Bedfordshire. Youngsters including Lewis Hall, Harvey Vale and Dylan Williams have joined in the preparations for this game.

However patched-up the visitors are, the Hatters may have to find a way past goalkeeper Edou Mendy, who showed again why he is the world’s best with a string of saves at Wembley.

Hatters again

Luton suffered the drop after our last league meeting in 1991/92, the first of six relegations, but comedian Eric Morecambe’s favourite club overcame financial catastrophe to bring the sunshine back to Bedfordshire. Town are sixth in the Championship after edging Derby at the weekend, their fifth win in six games.

Arguably, the recent run makes it more likely Nathan Jones (in his second spell at the club) will prioritise league over cup in his selection this evening. The Hatters have crucial Championship trips to Middlesbrough and Coventry on Saturday and Tuesday, and that could mean a wait for new arrival Robert Snodgrass, a free agent, and no rush back tonight for sidelined regulars Sonny Bradley, an experienced defender, playmaker Jordan Clark, and attacking midfielder Luke Berry.

Agile leading scorer Elijah Adebayo and free-kick specialist Henri Lansbury also sustained knocks at the weekend, opening the way for 33-year-old striker Danny Hylton or dribbling midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, who was too fatigued to play the last two games.

Whoever takes the field in front of the Luton fans, Jones – in charge for the Blues’ 3-1 home victory in this competition last season – will expect the usual intensity, determination to win the second ball, and ability to grasp opportunities.

Nearly a third of their goals derive from set-pieces, helping skipper and left centre-back Kai Naismith (often looking for the head of veteran forward Cameron Jerome) to top their assists chart. The Hatters shoot early and from distance but have a tendency to stray offside, and can be more concerned with progressing the ball than retaining possession.Only three Championship sides have netted more this season, but the same applies to chances conceded by the Hatters. They lost regular goalie Simon Sligo to Ludogorets in January but Jed Steer, who arrived on loan from Aston Villa, played in our 1-1 against the Villans earlier this season.

How to watch Luton-Chelsea

This match will be covered live in the UK on BBC One. It will be the 26th of Chelsea’s 28 most recent FA Cup ties to be selected for live broadcast, and the 11th in a row on the BBC.

To find out which broadcaster holds the rights where you are, look here

Chelsea TV’s Matchday Live show, which begins at 6.30pm on the 5th Stand app and this website, features Kerry Dixon.

FA Cup 2021/22 regulations

There will be no replays in this season’s competition. If a match is all-square after second-half stoppages, extra time will be played and, if necessary, penalty kicks will decide the outcome.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is not in use for this fixture as Kenilworth Road is not suitably equipped. Five substitutes, drawn from a bench of nine, are allowed in three batches excluding half-time. Concussion replacements are also permitted.

For those teams making it through, the quarter-final draw will take place tomorrow (Thursday) from around 7.30pm. Those matches are scheduled for the weekend of Saturday 19/Sunday 20 March (when the Blues are set to play at Norwich).

We have history

Chelsea and Luton have squared up twice in 38 years in the FA Cup, most memorably for the 1994 semi-final at Wembley. The Londoners’ former goalscoring legend Kerry Dixon was in the Hatters’ ranks and received emotional acclaim from Blues fans whose latest striking hero, Mark Stein, was unavailable. Instead it was Gavin Peacock who put the game beyond the second-tier side with a precise finish in each half, securing Chelsea’s first FA Cup final appearance for 24 years.

The last time the two sides met in this competition just over a year ago a Tammy Abraham hat-trick, Jordan Clark’s reply, and Timo Werner’s late saved penalty made it 3-1.

The Blues’ most recent cup trip to Kenilworth Road, though, was way back in January 1935 for a round three replay. The result, a 2-0 win for the third-tier side, was precisely the kind that nurtured the ‘music hall joke’ jibes levelled at London’s glamour club.

In the league, we last visited in the old Division One in December 1991, months after the notorious plastic pitch had been removed. Luton, set for the drop, led 2-0 at half-time, one a penalty. Just as the Blues started to motor, full-back Tommy Boyd was sent off for a shirt-pull, though Mick Harford only found the bar from the resulting spot-kick.

Last 16 under the lens

While all the top three are among the eight Premier League clubs still in with a shout for Wembley glory, the teams who beat Chelsea in the previous two FA Cup finals – Leicester and Arsenal – and 10 others have already been eliminated. Top-flight clashes at St Mary’s and Anfield mean at least two more will fall before the quarter-finals.

Luton are second-highest-placed of the four Championship sides still in the frame after last night (including Spurs’ conquerors Middlesbrough), while Everton’s opponents Boreham Wood are third in the National League.

Shoot-out falls short

Chelsea’s fourth successive Wembley final loss was confirmed with the 22nd kick of the penalty shootout, the longest of its kind in a League Cup climax. (The Blues lost the 2019 final to Manchester City in the same fashion.)

Sunday’s drama fell numerically short of the spot-kick madness of 8 November 2016, in which Chelsea’s development squad beat Oxford United 13-12 after an incredible 34 penalties in the EFL Trophy at the Bridge – then an English record.

And on that occasion, the Blues’ keeper Brad Collins missed his first from 12 yards, but scored the penultimate attempt before saving from Wes Thomas to secure the win.

FA Cup round five results and fixtures

TuesdayPeterborough 0 Man City 2Crystal Palace 2 Stoke 1Middlesbrough 1 Tottenham 0

WednesdayLuton v Chelsea 7.15pm (BBC One)Southampton v West Ham 7.30pm (BBC Red Button, iPlayer)Liverpool v Norwich 8.15pm (ITV)

ThursdayEverton v Boreham Wood 8.15pm (ITV)

MondayNottingham Forest v Huddersfield 7.30pm (ITV4)