COVENTRY increased their chances of another great Premiership relegation escape after this victory, inspired by their player manager Gordon Strachan, at Highfield Road last night.

City came from behind to collect three valuable points, inflicting a third successive defeat on Chelsea. It was hardly the preparation Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit was seeking for Sunday's FA Cup semi final against Wimbledon.

Gullit made five changes from the side beaten heavily by Arsenal at the weekend, including the relegation of Gianluca Vialli to the substitutes' bench after the Italian striker had accused his manager of humiliating and embarrassing him in various situations.

The 40 year old Strachan sprang a surprise by including himself in the starting line up, and he made three changes despite City's excellent win over Liverpool at Anfield last Sunday.

The kick off was delayed for 15 minutes because the referee refused to allow Chelsea to wear their first choice strip of all blue which clashed with Coventry's colours. Chelsea had not brought a spare set of shirts and took the field in Coventry's alternative red and blue check strip.

Strachan was inspirational in midfield as Coventry looked for the early breakthrough to help settle their nerves. The player manager nearly got on the scoresheet in the 25th minute when he cleverly cut inside Craig Burley and Frank Sinclair before hitting a shot which Chelsea goalkeeper Frode Grodas beat away with his fists.

Chelsea did not threaten until the 34th minute when, after two in swinging corners by Gianfranco Zola, Roberto Di Matteo tried his luck from 25 yards, but the shot tacked power and Steve Ogrizovic easily saved.

But just before half time the visitors broke quickly from the back, first through Steve Clarke and then Scott Minto. The speed of the assault caught out Coventry and as the ball ran loose to Paul Hughes, the youngster managed to squeeze the ball home from an acute angle.

Coventry scored two goals in as many minutes early in the second half to go 2-1 up. In the 49th minute a precise build up involving Peter Ndlovu and Noel Whelan resulted in Dion Dublin shooting well past the exposed Grodas.

Then the home side caught out Chelsea's defence when Paul Telfer's long throw from the right was nodded on by Dublin for Paul Williams to steal in at the far post and head home from close range.

Coventry's third goal in nine minutes arrived when Ndlovu chasing Strachan's through pass collided with Grodas outside the area. The ball ran loose to Whelan who rolled it into the empty net.

Gullit said afterwards: "The quicker we forget about that performance, the better. Maybe some of the lads were thinking about Sunday's FA Cup semifinal and being concerned about not getting injured.

Asked about Vialli's omission all Gullit would say is: "I want to forget about this game. Sunday is very important. I want to think about the Wimbledon game now."

Coventry assistant manager Alex Miller was impressed by his boss: "Gordon was outstanding. The only thing we have to worry about is whether he is capable of playing Saturday Wednesday Saturday but we have now got a 10 day break to give him a chance to recharge his batteries."