Hatters boss aiming to take advantage of a Chelsea side who aren't 'at their best' yet under Pochettino

​Luton boss Rob Edwards is hopeful that his side can take advantage of a Chelsea team who are still finding their feet under new manager Mauricio Pochettino when they head to Stamford Bridge on Friday evening.

Town’s trip to West London, which kicks off at 8pm live on Sky Sports, sees the Hatters go up against a Blues team without a home league win since March 4, some eight games ago.

After a terrible season that saw three managers come and go, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard, the Blues finished in what was, by their usual standards, a woeful 12th place.

Owner Todd Boehly appointed former Spurs and Paris Saint-Germain head coach Pochettino to try and rectify the situation, the former Argentina international having been given pretty much an open cheque book in which to do so, breaking the British transfer record when signing Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion for £115m recently.

Pochettino has splashed out just under £350m in total, Romeo Lavia (£58.5m), Christopher Nkunku (£52m), Axel Disasi (£38.5m) and Nicolas Jackson (£35.5m) just four of the expensive new recruits, but results are yet to turn, Chelsea following up their 1-1 draw with Liverpool by losing 3-1 to West Ham on Sunday.

With Luton looking to win at Stamford Bridge for the first time since 1986, speaking to Sky Sports, Edwards said of his opposite number: “He’s a top manager and has been for a long, long time.

"They’ve brought in a lot of top players, but they’re still a new team and building as well, so they might not be at their best and have the most rhythm right now.

"Like Brighton last week, it’s as difficult a test as you can get away from home in the Premier League, but we're looking forward to it.”

Town go into the contest on the back of a 4-1 opening day defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, a game in which they had only trailed by one with five minutes left, before a series of errors saw the Seagulls take full advantage.

Although the final scoreline made it look like a heavy loss, Edwards felt there were still some bright sparks regarding the overall performance, as he continued: “There were some good things, but there were some things we can improve on quickly and those were basics.

“So a lot of it can be closing gaps, doing the running, doing the work earlier, at this level and especially against that level of opposition, they see a gap, they take the space and they can see a pass as well.

"We can take a lot of positives from it, 84, 85 minutes we're 2-1 down, in the game.

"We gifted them the third goal, then we're chasing it and we got caught in between a little bit.

"We've gone 4-4-2, there's a little bit of space there, we're thinking can we get back in it?

"They go and get some more chances and get the fourth goal as well, but we're in the game away from home against top opposition for 85 minutes, so we can take that.

"I think it’s quite obvious as well, let’s not pass it to them in our own box, so it’s something we know.”

The trip to the Amex was Edwards’ first ever in charge of a side for a top flight encounter too.

It wasn’t quite the enjoyable experience he had wanted due to the result, but asked whether he had looked for any hints or advice from others in the aftermath, he added: “I’ve spoken to a few, there’s a few that I know reasonably well and picked their brains and seen them.

"There's different ways of learning, that’s doing the job, you can speak to outside people and I’ve got some really good people that I can speak to regularly that are mentors.

"I feel like I’ve got amazing staff here I can always lean on and bounce ideas off.

"There’s a lot of experience at the club and one or two managers that I do trust and can pick up the phone to, at all levels of the football pyramid, who have got great experience, but nothing quite prepares you for doing the job, standing on the touchline and living it yourself.

"We’ve done that once, and I want that to happen a lot more times now.”