MAURICIO POCHETTINO insisted that spirits are high at Chelsea despite facing a third straight season without major silverware, after they kept up their push for Europe with a 5-0 demolition of West Ham.

The Blues have produced an excellent response to their own five-goal dismantling at the hands of Arsenal late in April, recovering to take seven points from their last three games to put themselves firmly in the picture for Europa League qualification.

They ripped into David Moyes’s hapless Hammers with a ruthlessness to suggest the players are, after a slow start, at last responding to the methods of their head coach, as they made it 22 goals scored in their last six Premier League outings at Stamford Bridge.