Relief at last for Ranieri

Chelsea 2 Man City 1

You didn't need to speak Italian to understand what Claudio Ranieri was feeling as he left Stamford Bridge last night. Relief doesn't need words and no doubt it was still etched all over his face when he woke up this morning.

All right, clinging on for a 2-1 win over a Manchester City side who have lost their last six matches in the Premiership isn't much to write home about when you've managed some of the biggest teams in Spain and Italy.

But in the context of the dramatic events of the last seven days it must have meant a great deal to the hard working former Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina coach.

It's been a wretched week for Chelsea. First they decided to part company with first team coaches Graham Rix and Ray Wilkins, a decision which probably should have been taken when Gianluca Vialli was dismissed in September.

Then shareholders gave chairman Ken Bates a grilling at the annual general meeting of Chelsea Village plc on Friday demanding to know why Vialli had to go and seeking assurances on the future of the company after it made a pre-tax loss of £3.5 million last year.

Inevitably, in the face of intense criticism from former players and the media, the club has adopted something of a siege mentality in the last few days. No bad thing when you consider how it is one of the key elements of Sir Alex Ferguson's consistent success at Old Trafford.

Perhaps the last few days will turn out to be a turning point. Although Joe Royle's City team are worth a fraction of Ranieri's it is against such opposition that Chelsea so often falter.

"It is true, we needed the three points," Ranieri said. "It has been difficult this week. The most difficult thing for me has been trying to play down the situation and allow the players to concentrate on their game."

Chelsea remain 14th in the Premiership but French defender Marcel Desailly believes a Champions League place is a possibility this season. He said: "We definitely need the Champions League for the club. Maybe we can come back behind Manchester United and Arsenal if they use a lot of energy playing in the Champions League.

"I still believe because the group is still positive, there is no bad mentality between us."

On the strength of their first half performance you would have no reason to disbelieve him. Inspired by Gianfranco Zola, Chelsea played flowing, aggressive football which threatened, at one stage, to cut City to pieces.

Defender Danny Tiatto had to clear a Desailly header off the line and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink should have done better with a free header from Zola's cross in an entertaining opening 25 minutes.

And the home side capped their superiority with a wonderful goal after 27 minutes, Zola picking up the ball after a defensive blunder from City skipper Alfie Haaland before dropping his shoulder and curling a low shot around keeper Nicky Weaver from the left edge of the box.

Just before half-time Chelsea stretched their lead with Zola again involved. This time he picked out the advancing Mario Melchiot with a perfectly weighted ball and he squared it for Hasselbaink who almost burst the net with a powerful drive.

What happened between the end of the first half and the start of the second will remain a mystery. Sparked by the half-time substitution of Paul Dickov for Paulo Wanchope, City piled the pressure on. Chelsea immediately lost their shape and looked vulnerable.

They had already changed formations once in the first half to counter City's two-man strike force and now, with Dickov providing a different sort of threat, the home side looked uncertain as to how they should be countering the threat

But City failed to take advantage and by the time Dickov had pulled a goal back with his instant reaction volley to Kevin Horlock's parried drive in the 81st minute it was too late.

Desailly tried to explain. "There were two Chelsea teams, the one in the first half and the one in the second," he said.

"We were waiting too much, we still have to play and press otherwise we are in trouble. We don't have the quality to wait for the opponents to play. We have to change that more than thinking tactically.

"But the team is progressing for sure. We are working hard during the week but mentally we have to be a bit more clever and have to improve our game away from home.

"The team has quality but everything is confidence. We need to be a bit more focused and not be surprised."

Zola added: "We were sucked in a little bit too much and they were really up for it. We also had a little bit of fatigue at the end. There was a bit of tension and when that happens everything you do becomes more difficult.

"We are not perfect at the moment and certainly we are experiencing a few problems. We are trying to work them out but recently we have been playing well and not getting anything out of games."

Having played all of London's Premiership sides now, Manchester City have taken just one point on their travels in the capital. "I'll be glad to see the back of London," Royle joked after the latest defeat.

Until last night Ranieri might have been feeling exactly the same.

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