Chelsea show conviction and power past Portsmouth

Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 4:THE LEAGUE Cup is not a priority for Chelsea but its significance to those in charge of the team should not be underestimated. Victory in the 2005 final kick-started Jose Mourinho's bountiful spell at the club while failure to repeat the trick last season signalled the beginning of the end for Avram Grant.

So Luiz Felipe Scolari was entitled to take pleasure from progressing past his first match in the competition.

The outcome was never in doubt after Chelsea's starting line-up had been confirmed. Places were found for Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and, for the first time since the Champions League final, Didier Drogba, and while Portsmouth made life awkward, they never did enough to stop the visitors marching towards victory.

Lampard scored either side of half-time while Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou got the others in a collective display of power and fluidity that suggests Scolari's unbeaten streak at Chelsea will continue.

Harry Redknapp made five changes to the Portsmouth side that lost 6-0 at Manchester City on Sunday while Scolari started with five players who didn't start Chelsea's weekend draw with Manchester United.

It was a fresh face who made the first notable impact in the game. Latching on to a through-pass by Ballack, Drogba let fly from the edge of the penalty area after five minutes only to see his effort drift inches wide of the far post. This did not spook the hosts and it was they who next came close to scoring when former Chelsea defender Glen Johnson played a teasing cross into the six-yard box that Peter Crouch just failed to reach.

The match then fell into a more patient tempo as the two teams, playing identical formations, cancelled each other out. Portsmouth came close to scoring when Crouch headed the ball down to Nadir Belhadj whose powerfully hit long-range shot went just over the bar. Having turned down an earlier Chelsea penalty appeal Bennett did not hesitate in awarding them one on 35 minutes, after Ballack was tripped in the box by Belhadj, and Lampard comfortably converted.

It became 2-0 on the stroke of half-time when Malouda blasted a shot past David James following a cushioned lay-off from Drogba.

Any thoughts of a Portsmouth comeback were obliterated four minutes after half-time when Lampard got his second of the night and arguably the softest goal of his career. The England midfielder was standing in the right place at the right time when James palmed Kalou's cross on to his chest and into the net. Game over, and Portsmouth seemed to realise it.

Chelsea's attack were in a groove by now and Kalou, the outstanding performer of the night, made it 4-0 on 64 minutes with a low drive from the right-hand side of the area.

Guardian Service

PORTSMOUTH:James, Johnson, Pamarot, Distin, Hreidarsson, Utaka, Mvuemba, Kaboul, Hughes (Wilson 80), Belhadj (Djimi Traore 69), Crouch (Kanu 69). Subs not used: Ashdown, Armand Traore, Defoe, Little. Yellow cards: Johnson, Hreidarsson, Hughes.

CHELSEA:Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Alex, Bridge, Belletti, Ballack (Ferreira), Lampard (Sinclair), Kalou, Malouda, Drogba (Di Santo). Subs not used: Cudicini, Obi, Mancienne, Stoch. Yellow card: Ballack.

Referee:Steve Bennett (Kent).