Kenilworth Road will shake and rattle and when Luton Town get on a roll against the world champions, it may well feel as though the roof is going to come off the ramshackle old place.
With a plush new stadium inching ever closer, the Hatters’ home of the last 117 years may not get to witness too many more occasions like tonight’s FA Cup fifth round tie with Chelsea.
Then again, such has been Luton’s astonishing rise from the brink of oblivion to the cusp of the Premier League in the past decade, you wouldn’t rule out such illustrious visitors calling more frequently next season.
Luton Town are preparing to host Chelsea in an attractive FA Cup fifth round tie on Wednesday
The old school surroundings of Kenilworth Road will be packed to capacity for Chelsea’s visit
It certainly promises to be an uncomfortable experience for Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea
Such an attractive cup tie, which will be televised live on BBC One, comes as a nice little bonus for Luton but – and this has pretty much gone under the radar for many – they are sixth in the Championship and eyeing up the Premier League.
The riches that would accompany promotion, even if it’s just a one-season stay, would be transformative for a club that played non-league football as recently as 2014.
Luton were relegated from the Championship in 2007, dropped like a stone through League One and were then booted to the foot of League Two in 2008-09 courtesy of a 30-point deduction – the highest ever handed out by the Football League – for entering administration for the third time in nine years.
One of those resulted from the absurd 55-day ownership of businessman John Gurney, who proposed renaming the club London-Luton to match the local airport, planned to build a 70,000-capacity stadium on concrete rafters above the M1 and surrounded by an Formula One track, and wanted to merge the club with Wimbledon.
Though dropping into the National League brought stable supporter-led ownership, the club’s agony was prolonged by two lost play-off finals and one semi-final.
Welsh manager Nathan Jones has been instrumental in guiding Luton back up the divisions
The Hatters find themselves in the Championship play-off places amid a congested division
Finally, in 2014, they won the division and returned to the EFL. Since then, Luton have gathered real momentum and today find themselves more than able to hold their own amidst the mass of former Premier League clubs in the second tier.
With Kenilworth Road’s capacity not too far north of 10,000 and no super-wealthy benefactor, of course Luton struggle to compete financially with the likes of Fulham, Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion.
Events such as paying £1.5m for Croatian goalkeeper Simon Sluga in July 2019 are big news because that represents a club record fee paid. But that sum is considerably lower than the equaivalent of most Championship peers.
But they succeed because manager Nathan Jones doesn’t complain about having one of the smallest budgets in the Championship, instead grafting away to produce a side that’s tight-knit, tough to beat and increasingly successful.
As Jones told Sportsmail back in November: ‘If you compare budgets, we have to bloody the nose against pretty much everyone we come up against.
‘But we don’t see it like that, we don’t harp on about the size of our budget. That’s never been the case.
‘We’ve always believed in our work and our recruitment above our ability to pay certain wages. As long as it stays that way, we will be able to compete at this level.
‘How many we will be able to punch on the nose and hurt, that depends on our work, players adapting, luck and God’s will on the day.’
It was in 2014 that Luton finally ended five seasons in the National League with a title win
They secured back-to-back promotions in 2019 by winning the League One championship
The Welshman, 48, whose regular references to God reflects a devout personal faith, came to Luton in January 2016 when they were fighting relegation in League Two.
After a play-off failure in 2017, Jones led them to automatic promotion into League One 12 months later.
He then left for Stoke City midway through another promotion campaign but, similarly to when Eddie Howe left Bournemouth for Burnley and ill-fortune before coming back, Jones would return ‘home’ 18 months later to save Luton from Championship relegation.
Last season they finished 12th, with their points tally of 62 Luton’s highest in the second-tier since 1981-82. The club has risen almost as rapidly as they fell.
This time around, they have found enough consistency to position themselves in the play-off places with 13 rounds of the season left.
Danny Hylton celebrates scoring Luton’s winner against Derby County on Saturday
The Hatters come into the Chelsea tie in encouraging form following three consecutive wins
But nothing is assured amid a congested upper half that sees Huddersfield in third separated from Millwall in 11th by just 10 points and the sands shifting with every set of games.
Three consecutive wins, over West Brom, Stoke and Derby, have given Luton plenty of momentum ahead of Wednesday’s test against Thomas Tuchel’s European champions, who won’t be given an easy ride with a boisterous atmosphere expected within a claustrophobic ground.
Tuchel is known for being an expressive touchline presence but Jones’s passion will certainly catch the eye of the casual TV viewer.
‘That passion will probably give me a heart attack in the end but I enjoy my work, I’m very passionate about it and I’m driven,’ he said on the eve of the game.
‘The big thing is that when you believe and you have faith in something then ultimately you’d probably die for it.
Jones is an animated touchline presence and admitted he fears a heart attack as a result
The Luton boss addresses his players during last season’s fourth round defeat at Chelsea
‘That’s what martyrdom is – metaphorical martyrdom because I sacrifice every part of my life to the detriment sometimes of others.’
Alongside Jones will be his assistant Mick Harford, the former forward who represented both clubs and returned to the dug-out in January after completing a course of radiotherapy after a prostate cancer diagnosis.
If Luton are to cause an almighty upset, they’ll look to 13-goal leading scorer Elijah Adebayo to bully the Chelsea back line and the craft of Cameron Jerome and Harry Cornick to unpick it.
Midfielders Luke Berry and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu are listed a doubtful for the match but everyone will be relishing the chance to rough Chelsea up.
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It will fall to the likes of Kal Nalsmith, Reece Burke and Tom Lockyer to keep Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and company quiet.
Gabriel Osho celebrates after Admiral Muskwe scored the third at Cambridge in round four
Luton’s assistant manager Mick Harford, who played for Luton and Chelsea, in the stands
The two sides actually met in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge last season, with Chelsea winning their fourth round tie 3-1.
After their Carabao Cup final disappointment on Sunday, Chelsea will be desperate to avoid crashing out of another cup competition in a tie that must be settled on the night.
But Luton striker Danny Hylton nicely summed up the kind of test of character that awaits them at old-school Kenilworth Road.
‘It’s hostile, it’s not nice. The fans will be loud, the dressing rooms will not be something Chelsea are used to,’ he said.
‘They’re tight and cold, very wooden. Not nice at all. At Luton we love it but we can see why others don’t.
‘We will enjoy kicking them and getting amongst them. We will do everything they don’t want and make it nasty.
‘N’Golo Kante will be quaking in his boots!’