Chelsea maintained their position at the top of the Conference League group table in sparkling fashion as they dismantled Armenian Premier League side Noah with an 8-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

It was the biggest win in the competition’s short history, replacing Nordsjaelland’s 7–1 win over Ludogorets in last season’s group stage.

Chelsea – who defeated Gent and Panathinaikos in their first two European games of the season – were almost stunned inside three minutes when Goncalo Gregorio was given space to shoot at Filip Jorgensen, while Joao Felix missed an open goal from inside six yards. box did little to calm the initial nerves.

Then the match became the mismatch many expected. Tosin headed in Enzo Fernandez’s corner with ease and when Noah carelessly gave the ball away seconds after the restart, Marc Guiu was on hand to slot in and double the lead.

Axel Disasi then headed in another corner, before Felix atoned for his earlier miss by coolly clipping over goalkeeper Ognjen Chancharevich and Mykhailo Mudryk added a fifth with a sumptuous curling finish.

Incredibly, it was six o’clock at half-time when Felix received the ball from Disasi, cut into his man and fired a shot over the line off a deflection.

There seemed to be less urgency for the Blues after the break – understandably so, as the match was already a foregone conclusion at that point. But with just over 21 minutes to play, having already hit the top of the crossbar with a fierce shot, Christopher Nkunku found the net from a tight angle after his first effort was saved.

There was also time for another penalty, with Nkunku powering home a spot-kick after a VAR review revealed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had been fouled in the penalty area, adding further luster to an unforgettable night in West London .

Maresca: Football is full of surprises; we had to be ready

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:

“The players once again showed how professional and serious they are. It is very easy to slip or fall in these types of matches. Football is full of surprises. What I asked them before the match was to show how serious we are, how professional we are and I think they showed that. It’s an important message for all of us.

“If you are not mentally ready, if you do not take it seriously, you can easily fall against any team. The most important thing is that we are serious, we are professional and this is the right thing we had to show tonight.” “

About Mudryk’s chances of starting in the Premier League: “We take Misha into account, we consider them all every match. The point is that we have 24, 25 players, so we always try to take the best 11 that we think.

“The most important thing is that Misha continues to improve, just like tonight. He scored a fantastic goal and had some good moments.”

About Tyrique George’s full-length debut: “I think he was very good. I said before the match that with young players it is sometimes better to tell them the day before (they start) so that they can prepare, but with some of them it is better to tell them close to the game so they don’t get nervous.

“We already knew Tyrique was going to start, but I only told him two hours before the game and I think he was very good.”

Mota: We lost control of the game

Noah manager Rui Mota:

“We didn’t start as well as we wanted, then we conceded two quick goals and then we started to lose control, leaving too much space.

“We made a lot of mistakes, which is not normal for our team and when you play against such good players who only need one chance to score one goal, we started conceding a lot of goals and completely lost control of the game in the first half.

“It’s not easy to come back in the second half when you lose 6-0, but the boys had character, they tried to get something out of the game. We had a few chances to score and this is what I want .” What I’m most sad about is that with what we’ve created offensively, we can maybe score a goal or two.

“Congratulations to Chelsea. They were very strong, now we just have to move on.”

What’s coming up in the UEFA Conference League?