Juande Ramos secured his place in Tottenham folklore with victory over Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final last season, but defeat at Stamford Bridge on Sunday will put him in the record books for all the wrong reasons.

If Spurs lose it will be their worst start to a season since losing their first three League games back in 1979.

Of course, Ramos will point to mitigating circumstances, with Dimitar Berbatov's proposed move to Manchester United overshadowing his preparations and chairman Daniel Levy leaving it to the end of the transfer window to finalise the squad.

Yet, losing at Middlesbrough and at home to Sunderland is not good enough for a club who have ambitions to get into the top four.

The odds on Ramos avoiding an undesirable hat-trick are not good as Tottenham have not won at Chelsea since Gary Lineker's last-minute header in 1990. Since then, they have picked up only five points in 17 visits to the Bridge.

However, Ramos didn't earn a reputation in Spain as the man with the granite mask for nothing. He is refusing to panic and Chelsea would be unwise to take Spurs lightly.

Berbatov may have caused unrest in the dressing room over his demands to join United, but it is the elementary mistakes the team have been making which give Ramos most cause for concern.

So the former Sevilla coach decided to give the players a tough workout in training this week and is confident results will soon turn around.

He said: "At the moment we owe something to our fans, but we can and we must give a lot more and that's what we are working on.

"We are aware that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us and we need to correct mistakes, but there is still a long competition left and the team are showing such character that they simply need the luck of achieving that victory which will strengthen their confidence.

"We are more concerned with correcting the errors we have made in the last few games rather than obsessing about achieving our first victory.

"The team have to improve, but I am pleased with the way they are working and the football being played, although obviously that isn't enough. We need to be ambitious and keep our concentration for the full 90 minutes.

"What we have done up to now is only good as something to learn from. We have to analyse our mistakes but not dwell on them. We must correct them in order to achieve positive results, which I'm convinced will happen very soon."

His belief is such that he is not intimidated by Chelsea's impressive start to the season and is looking to get all three points. Chelsea are top of the League after two wins and have yet to concede a goal, but Ramos added: "I have no doubt in my mind that Tottenham are capable of beating any team and on Sunday we are going for the three points.

"Chelsea are a great team but we also have a very solid base; the lads are working well and we have to forget about our anxieties and simply do what we have shown we are all capable of doing, footballers and coaching staff alike. We need to give a bit more and that's what we are going to do."

Ramos certainly got the better of Chelsea last season as he followed up the 2-1 victory at Wembley in the Carling Cup with a 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane in the Premier League, which put a major dent in the Blues' title bid. His third encounter with Chelsea is likely to come too soon for striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who is set to complete his £16million move from Spartak Moscow today.

Tottenham have invested £45m in the transfer market so far this summer, but the squad is short of players up front and at the back, although they hope to resolve that by midnight on Monday.

Ramos is certainly not complaining at the board's backing in the transfer market and said: "The club have made a great effort this season, the new players are offering further potential to the team, but we are still at the beginning of the season and this process has only just started."