STEVEN NAISMITH struck a brilliant hat-trick as stuttering Barclays Premier League champions Chelsea crashed to a 3-1 defeat at Everton.

Naismith, a ninth-minute replacement for the injured Muhamed Besic, scored twice within moments of coming on as Everton turned up the heat on Jose Mourinho's out-of-form side.

Nemanja Matic pulled one back with a fine strike before half-time at Goodison Park but Naismith rewarded the hard-working Toffees by completing his treble after 82 minutes.

It was the first time a Mourinho Chelsea side had conceded a hat-trick and the result left them with just four points from five games.

Further frustration for Mourinho was that John Stones, the England centre-half he tried so hard to buy over the summer, was outstanding in Everton's back four.

The hosts' afternoon actually began badly as Besic, making his first Premier League appearance of the season, was hurt in an early challenge by Kurt Zouma.

His misfortune proved a blessing in disguise for Everton, however, as his replacement Naismith ran the Londoners ragged.

There was an early warning for the visitors as Naismith went close to getting on the end of a dangerous Seamus Coleman cross.

That signal was not heeded as Naismith was allowed to turn after 17 minutes, feed Brendan Galloway on the left and then get in the box to head home a return cross.

Everton kept attacking and gained further reward when Naismith found the target with a powerful effort from distance.

Chelsea were rocking and there were possible signs of frustration as Coleman caught a stray arm from Diego Costa in the face.

The champions did eventually start to settle and play some neat football up to the Everton box.

They hauled themselves back into the game with a stunning long-range strike from Matic after 36 minutes – his first Premier League goal since scoring in Chelsea's 6-3 win at the same venue last year.

Chelsea were a more forceful proposition after the break and controlled much more possession.

But Everton's back four, superbly led by Stones and Phil Jagielka, held firm and gave their side a platform to launch some counter-attacks.

Romelu Lukaku broke away from Branislav Ivanovic but shot at Begovic. Everton appealed for a back-pass as the ball rebounded off the keeper and back into his arms via Terry's feet but referee Andre Marriner did not see it as deliberate.

Kone also tested Begovic on another counter-attack, but principally their job became defending as Chelsea probed for an equaliser.

But they still struggled to create clear-cut chances and Tim Howard was well protected.

Nasimith applied the killer blow eight minutes from time as he latched on to a through-ball from the excellent Ross Barkley, took the ball wide of Begovic and then fired home from a tight angle.

by Naismith, who had been left out of the Scotland team for the 3-2 defeat by Germany in Euro 2016 qualifying last week and would have felt aggrieved to have missed out here drew praise from his manager. As did Stones was also highly impressive in the back line.

He said: “It would have been all too easy for Naisy not to be ready and not to be happy to not be in starting XI, but he gave us a real example of focus, concentration and the real standard of this dressing room.

“Sometimes you play against the champions and you can beat them, but you look at lucky breaks - but for 90 minutes we restricted Chelsea to two shots on target.

“Clearly John showed we couldn’t replace a player like John Stones at that stage. He has been heavily tested but we never had a doubt in the way he would perform and he never let the team down.

“He always trained and performed well and today he showed he is going to be a future England captain."

The result also turned up the heat on Mourinho. Asked if he was under pressure, the Portuguese said in his post-match press conference: “No, no. I think the refugees are under big pressure.”

“We don’t deserve this result. It is too heavy for the way the players started the game, finished the game and played during the game.

“The biggest concern is that everything goes against us. We know we are making mistakes but for every mistake we are punished immediately.

“We need to win a couple of consecutive matches. We need the players to smile again. We need the strikers to score goals. We need the central defenders not to make mistakes and be punished for that. We need confidence. I think confidence is fundamental. In this moment everything goes against us and the players feel it."

Asked if his side could still win the title, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. Chelsea can win the next match against Arsenal for sure, (but) to win the title, I don’t know.”