Romanian striker Adrian Mutu struck twice as Chelsea came from behind to maintain their Indian sign over hapless Spurs.

Mutu's double, sandwiched between Frank Lampard and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink strikes, took his tally to four in three Chelsea matches.

Victory was no more than Chelsea deserved, but they were given a scare when Spurs went ahead through Freddie Kanoute, who later struck a second to provide the merest of doubts over the home side's win.

The win also continued Chelsea's remarkable run of dominance against their London rivals and the Blues are now unbeaten in 27 games against Spurs.

Tottenham had started at a frantic pace as they looked to bury the Stamford Bridge hoodoo which has hung over them for 11 years.

Just 46 seconds had ticked by when Jamie Redknapp let fly from 25 yards, Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini alert enough to smartly parry the shot.

Redknapp and the recalled Darren Anderton dominated the early midfield battle and Spurs were well worth of their 25th-minute lead.

It was a goal made by Anderton and superbly executed by French striker Kanoute, who jumped to challenge Mario Melchiot and brought the ball down on his chest before balancing himself and sweeping a shot through the legs of Cudicini.

But Chelsea responded superbly, as Claudio Ranieri provided cast-iron tactical evidence to Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich that he need not invest his hard-earned fortune in a new manager.

Ranieri, who rested playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron and full-backs Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson ahead of Tuesday's Champions League trip to Prague, reshuffled his Chelsea pack and was rewarded almost instantly.

The lively Damien Duff tucked in behind Chelsea's two strikers and in front of a three-man midfield, with Celastine Babayaro and Jesper Gronkjaer employed as wing backs.

And the reorganised Blues turned the game on its head with two goals in as many minutes.

First, Lampard stretched well to head home an excellent centre from Gronkjaer 10 minutes before half time.

And Spurs' stretched defence was picked apart by a sweeping Chelsea move moments later, Duff's pass complementing a superbly-timed run by Mutu who swept home the second.

That, effectively, was the end of the Spurs threat, as Chelsea turned the screw in the second half.

Duff's pace and power continued to cause headaches for the Spurs defence and Mutu was threatening every time the ball came within his range.

The killer third goal seemed imminent and it duly arrived 15 minutes from time.

Joe Cole was the provider just seconds after coming on for Duff, sending Mutu scampering clear again and the Romanian striker made no mistake with another clinical finish.

Chelsea were briefly made to sweat over that miss when Kanoute gave Spurs late hope with his second, but Hasselbaink's late strike helped Ranieri's side to climb to third.

For Spurs though, defeat marked their worst-ever start to a Premiership campaign as the pressure on boss Glenn Hoddle was turned up another notch.