Portsmouth 0
Chelsea 4

It may seem churlish to raise the point after a 4-0 victory, and Luiz Felipe Scolari did say he wanted to win everything this season, but is he taking an unnecessary risk by deciding to field several senior players in the Carling Cup?

The ease with which Chelsea, whose starting XI were all full internationals, swept aside Portsmouth was frightening.

Scolari's team rarely exceeded jogging pace to beat Pompey by the same margin as they did in their first League game of the season.

But with a squad so clearly superior to that of injury-ravaged Pompey, surely Scolari could have rested a few more of his key men and still left Fratton Park with a win.

To give every competition equal status is a nice idea but you wonder what the reaction would have been if Frank Lampard or John Terry had picked up an injury last night which kept them out of key games.

Similarly, lifting the Carling Cup will pale into insignificance if Chelsea fail to win either of the big two'.

Two goals up at half-time last night, thanks to Lampard's penalty and Florent Malouda's low shot, Scolari could have made changes at the start of the second half.

But Terry played the whole game, with Lampard on the pitch for 74 minutes and Didier Drogba, making his first start of the campaign after a knee injury, completing 79 minutes.

And after tearing into his players for attacking too frantically in last week's 4-0 win over Bordeaux, Scolari believes they are starting to understand what he wants.

He said: "After the second goal, it was
comfortable. There was more possession for us than there was for them. The players who played gave me very good answers.

"I am happy because we have started three competitions with three wins. All the
competitions are important to us and, if they weren't, I wouldn't have gone to Portsmouth with that team.

"There were four or five experienced players in the team and they all wanted to win here."

In fact, the Chelsea XI with the possible exception of defender Branislav Ivanovic, who finally made his debut eight months after his move to Stamford Bridge, would not have looked out of place against Manchester United three days ago.

Scolari's team lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Alex partnering Terry in central defence in the absence of the injured Ricardo Carvalho, and Juliano Belletti replacing John Obi Mikel in the holding midfield role. Salomon Kalou and Malouda started on the flanks, with Lampard alongside Michael Ballack in the centre, and Drogba alone in attack.

Chelsea took the lead when Nadir Belhadj was ruled to have tripped Ballack inside the box and Lampard sent David James the wrong way from the resultant penalty.

Just before half-time, Portsmouth's goose was cooked when Kalou set up Malouda to drive the ball past James from 15 yards.

Lampard scored a bizarre third in the 49th minute, when James pushed Kalou's cross against his England team-mate's knee and the ball crawled over the line before Kalou rifled in the fourth.

Encouragingly for Chelsea, Drogba looked to be approaching his best form. Scolari said: "He is improving and we will soon see the Drogba of last season. But I am happy because his knee is doing well and his mind is clear."

The time will soon come when Scolari will need such clarity of thinking to make sure he doesn't muddle his team's priorities for the season.

His top men are making all the right noises about wanting to play in every game but are Lampard, Terry and Co really going to make a fuss if they are left out of a Carling Cup tie to make sure they are in perfect condition for a Premier League or European fixture?

The choice is Scolari's - but few would be surprised if his next starting XI in the Carling Cup were slightly less formidable.