Tammy Abraham hat-trick fires Chelsea past battling Luton Town and into fifth round of the FA Cup

Tammy Abraham hit a hat-trick as Chelsea beat Championship outfit Luton 3-1 in the FA Cup fourth round at Stamford Bridge.

Abraham netted an early brace within 17 minutes with a low right-footed effort and a clever flicked header, before an awful error from Kepa Arrizabalaga allowed Jordan Clark's effort to squirm past him and got the Hatters to half time just a goal down.

Kepa partly redeemed himself with a point-blank save from Harry Cornick in the second half which is where the game might have turned.

After missing a number of chances, Abraham got his third after fine build up play from Billy Gilmour and Callum Hudson-Odoi led to the latter sliding the ball across the goal for the Blues number nine to tap home.

His fellow forward Timo Werner's miserable run in front of goal continued, however, as he saw his penalty saved by Simon Sluga five minutes from time.

Chelsea will travel to Barnsley in the fifth round.

After their sparkling start, which came largely as a result of Hakim Ziyech's combination with Reece James down the right flank, Chelsea lost their way in the middle period of match and could have had a very nervous end had it not been for Kepa's fine stop from Cornick.

Throughout this period when some of his team-mates lacked ingenuity, the Moroccan left-footer continually looked to fashion openings for his side. When he was replaced by Hudson-Odoi with 20 minutes remaining, his output was replaced by the pace and class of delivery from the academy prospect.

Frank Lampard has a lot of options in the forward positions but on the form these two are showing they should start all key games over the next few months. The problem of having to stop Ziyech's slide-rule passes from one wing and Hudson-Odoi getting behind them on the other is one any opposition will have trouble solving.

Abraham has yet to translate his glut of goals at youth level and at Bristol City and Aston Villa to the Chelsea first team, so it was pleasing to see him grab a treble.

After his good early finishes he could have had more, but he retained his desire and kept getting in dangerous positions and eventually was rewarded with the tap-in third.

Regular goals, or the lack of them, are the only thing that will stop the Chelsea number nine from being a long-term regular for the Blues.

This haul should give him confidence to take back into Premier League competition.

Chelsea: Kepa 5; James 7, Zouma 6, Christensen 6, Emerson 6, Mount 7, Gilmour 7, Ziyech 8, Werner 5, Pulisic 7; Abraham 8. Subs: Hudson-Odoi 8, Havertz 6, Giroud 6, Kovacic 7,

Luton: Sluga 6, Clark 7, Bradley 6, Rea 5, Bree 6, Tunnicliffe 6, Mpanzu 7, Dewsbury-Hall 7, Lockyer 6, Naismith 6, Cornick 6. Subs: Potts 7, Collins 6, Berry 5, LuaLua 6, Moncur 6.

12’ GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Luton (Tammy Abraham): Werner got to the by-line and managed to squeeze the ball back to Abraham in space, who slid it low inside the post.

17’ GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Luton (Tammy Abraham): Again down the right flank, Ziyech played back to James who dinked a ball into the area and Sluga came halfway allowing Abraham just to flick the ball over the keeper and into the net.

30’ GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Luton (Jordan Clark): Nice ball from Bree and Clark kept his half-volley low and on target. It was straight at Kepa who should have kept it out.

61’ GREAT SAVE! Kepa stops Cornick after a great run down the left from Potts sets up Mpanzu and he teed up the striker but his effort is saved by a raised left arm from the beleaguered Chelsea keeper.

75’ GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 Luton (Tammy Abraham): Hat-trick for Abraham after great line up play from Hudson-Odoi and Gilmour. The two youngsters exchanged two passes eventually leaving the England winger just before the by-line and he passed it square for Chelsea's number nine to side-foot home.

84’ PENALTY! Immediately Kovacic plays a lovely ball through for Werner who is felled by Clark as he is about to go around Sluga.

85’ SAVED! Sluga dives to his left and denies the German striker a much-needed goal