Nkunku opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a cool finish after a fine chipped pass from Joao Felix.

The forward soon added his second with a clever flick to divert Malo Gusto’s low cross into the net, before a Felix free-kick hit the post and bounced in off Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman to give the Blues a 3-0 half-time lead.

Two minutes after the restart Pedro Neto scored his first Chelsea goal by tapping in after Mykhailo Mudryk’s pass across goal.

Nkunku completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute after tackling keeper Farman and passing the ball into an empty net.

Thanks to his first Chelsea treble, the 26-year-old Frenchman now has six goals in eight appearances this season for the Blues.

Nkunku was making his first start for the hosts since their opening-day defeat by Manchester City last month.