Chelsea reserves produced a fantastic performance at Griffin Park this evening, thrashing Portsmouth in a six-goal thriller.

Goals from Franco Di Santo, Ricardo Quaresma, Jacob Mellis and Frank Nouble all added to the emphatic victory which took place in front of a watchful Guus Hiddink and Roman Abramovich.

Paul Clement, who was on first team duty against Watford, included four first squad players in his line-up as Quaresma started alongside Mineiro, Stoch and Di Santo.

The last time these two teams met, the Blues completed a 2-0 victory courtesy of a Fabio Borini double; he started tonight's game in the attacking midfield position.

Chelsea were in control from the off, and Portsmouth never looked to threaten Rhys Taylor's goal while Borini and Stoch both had chances inside the first 15 minutes.

With 25 minutes gone, the Blues were in the lead. Di Santo broke down the centre and, after collecting a through-ball from Quaresma, pulled the ball back for the Portuguese winger to tap in from close range.

Minutes later it was nearly two, as the three-man Chelsea attack overpowered the Portsmouth defence, but an ill-placed shot from Stoch bounced across the face of goal before heading wide.

With the half-hour mark past, Chelsea had consistently flooded the Portsmouth box. Stoch, Di Santo and Borini had all produced chances, while Taylor watched untested from the Chelsea goals.

Five minutes from the break, Jacob Mellis, fresh on the field after Michael Woods was forced off with an injury, latched onto a Stoch through-ball before forcing an acrobatic save from the Pompey keeper to keep the Chelsea lead at 1-0.

The first half had seen nothing but Chelsea chances, with the three-man attack smothering Portsmouth's defence, had the side gone in at the break only 1-0 up, it would have been an injustice, fortunately this wasn't the case.

Seconds before the break, Tom Taiwo broke down the right before releasing an inch-perfect cross into the path of a sliding Di Santo, who tapped in from close range to double the lead.

The second half saw a different tempo from Chelsea as Portsmouth began to create chances, but despite Taylor finally seeing some action between the posts, the Blues were still in control.

Stoch, Di Santo and Borini all saw chances denied by Asmir Begovic between the Portsmouth posts, as Chelsea used counter-attack football to our advantage.

It took until the 72nd minute for Chelsea to increase the lead, when a Di Santo one-two with Mellis mirrored the opening goal, only this time it was Mellis who found the net instead of Quaresma to make it three.

Chelsea's third spurred the Blues back into action and the game was once again all ours, another flurry of possession meant a tough test for the Pompey defence, but Begovic consistently denied the Blues another goal.

However, his saves were eventually futile, as Chelsea's fourth came with 10 minutes to go.

Stoch sprinted down the flank before launching a shot toward the far post from just inside the box. Begovic blocked the attempt but instead knocked the ball into Di Santo's path, who smashed home from an acute angle.

That would be the Argentinean's last kick of the game as Clement decided to give Frank Nouble a run-out and the substitute was in on the action within five minutes to play.

Fabio Ferreira, who had only been on the field for two minutes himself, chipped a cross onto Nouble's foot only 10 yards from goal. Nouble then subsequently lobbed Begovic with an expert touch for our fifth.

Pompey were truly defeated, and on the stroke of full time, Quaresma made it six after dancing along the top of the box before launching a low shot into the bottom right to finish off a truly emphatic Chelsea win.

By Chelseafc.com