Coventry City's strike force of Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin ensured it was an unhappy start to life in the Premiership for Chelsea's reconstructed foreign legion.

Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli had splashed out 12 million on Pierluigi Casiraghi, Marcel Desailly and Albert Ferrer in a bid to turn up the heat on Manchester United and Arsenal in the title race.

He fielded nine foreign players but it was the English duo of Huckerby and Dublin, who will tomorrow link up with Glenn Hoddle's squad, who grabbed the glory.

The pair scored 38 goals between them for the Sky Blues in their first full season together and instantly broke their duck for the new campaign by striking twice in the first 15 minutes to stun the Londoners.

Vialli had demanded that his side show a more solid approach this season if they are to realistically challenge for title glory after 15 defeats last season.

But they looked far from secure in the first half with man of the match Dublin, who scored a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last season, a constant threat upfront.

Coventry may be relative paupers compared to Chelsea in terms of the money they can splash out on players but they again showed anyone coming to Highfield Road can expect a hard time.

Nevertheless, they were still grateful for some fine saves from Magnus Hedman for keeping Chelsea at bay - with Casiraghi denied more than most and on another day he could have gone home with a hat-trick.

Chelsea opened positively in the bright sunshine and Roberto Di Matteo should have done better when he burst into the Sky Blues' penalty area and screwed his shot wide.

Gustavo Poyet then headed a Graeme Le Saux free-kick over the top when well-placed but Gordon Strachan's side stunned them by scoring twice in six minutes.

Huckerby sent the Coventry fans wild with delight in the 10th minute when Dublin headed onto the former Newcastle player who went past Desailly to leave himself with a clear run at goal.

Huckerby, in the England squad for this weekend's three day get together, coolly lobbed the ball over Chelsea keeper Ed De Goey and Frank Leboeuf's desperate lunge could not prevent the ball from crossing the line.

Chelsea had hardly had time to recover from this setback when they went further behind in the 16th minute - and their defence was again found wanting.

Noel Whelan's flighted free-kick picked out Dublin at the far post with the Chelsea rearguard static and he made no mistake with a powerful header which gave the exposed De Goey no chance of saving.

Chelsea looked vulnerable in coping with the ball played behind their defence and the Coventry fans taunted their foreign legion of players with cries of "England, England."

But the Londoners gradually clawed their way back into the match and Hedman did well to cling onto a low free-kick from Leboeuf.

Poyet then headed over following a Dennis Wise free-kick - but the same combination hauled Chelsea back into contention eight minutes before the interval.

This time Wise's delivery was perfect and Poyet came thundering in to give Hedman no chance with a header into the top corner.

Hedman then denied Casiraghi an equaliser in first half injury-time with a tremendous close range save to keep out his header at the expense of a corner.

Chelsea began the second half on the offensive and Casiraghi was again denied by Hedman who blocked his close range effort.

Then the Chelsea striker fired in an instinctive shot from the edge of the area only for that man Hedman to tip his effort over the bar.

Teams

Coventry: Hedman, Nilsson, Burrows, Williams, Shaw, Whelan (M. Hall 70), Boateng (P. Hall 88), Telfer, Soltvedt, Huckerby, Dublin.

Subs Not Used: Ogrizovic, Wallemme, Haworth.

Booked: Telfer, Soltvedt, Burrows, Huckerby.

Goals: Huckerby 10, Dublin 16.

Chelsea: De Goey, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Desailly, Le Saux, Ferrer, Poyet, Wise, Di Matteo (Zola 76), Vialli (Flo 69), Casiraghi.

Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Duberry, Newton.

Booked: Di Matteo, Wise, Vialli, Ferrer.

Goals: Poyet 37.

Att: 23,042

Ref: G Barber (Pyrford).