Three goals down in the first-half, Chelsea's youth team staged an astonishing comeback to take the points against Fulham at Cobham on Wednesday evening.

A Frank Nouble (pictured courtesy of Mark Sandom) hat-trick and a Sergio Tejera strike turned around what looked like a comfortable Fulham victory to earn the win on a cold Surrey night.

One down inside five minutes after a smart run from Fulham's Courtney Harris, things got worse as Kai Bichard made it two and then three.

Coach Paul Clement pointed to Nouble's first strike just before half-time as a vital way back into the game, the youngster finishing well after Michael Woods had flicked on.

'That was a very important goal, and a good goal as well. [It was] a fantastic little ball around the corner from Michael Woods and Frank finished very well,' Clement told Chelsea TV.

It was a quick response after half-time too, Tejera picking up on the rebound to finish calmly after Woods' strike had hit the post. Jacopo Sala had done well to cross.

The equaliser came when Nouble was brought down inside the area, and took responsibility for the penalty himself, sending visiting goalkeeper Wesley Foderingham the wrong way.

A Fulham red card gave the Blues the initiative to press on and look for an unlikely winner, which arrived courtesy of Nouble, who was playing in the centre-forward role.

His precise volley completed the scoring, and gave him his seventh league goal of the season.

At full-time, Clement was a satisfied man, and declared himself 'pleased with the response from the players, particularly after the talk at half-time.

'We got ourselves in a terrible situation with a goal in the first five minutes and then a couple of other sloppy ones,' he added. 'We got a bit of a lifeline before half-time which gave us some belief and sorted out some things in the dressing room. The response from the players was excellent so I am pleased with the second half.'

The victory sends Chelsea above Fulham in the table, and incidentally makes the Blues the top scoring side after 10 games, with 25 goals.

Chelsea: Niclas Heimann, Nikki Ahamed, Daniel Philliskirk (c), Jack Saville (Billy-Joe King), Jordan Tabor, Tom Taiwo, Jacopo Sala, Michael Woods, Frank Nouble, Sergio Tejera (Conor Clifford), Aliu Djalo.