Chelsea are taking no chances as they bid to take over at the top of the Barclaycard Premiership tonight. Ranieri's men need just a point from their game against Birmingham at St Andrews to leapfrog Arsenal into pole position, ahead of Saturday's Highbury showdown between the two London giants.
But Chelsea will not allow their striker Mikael Forssell - on loan at Birmingham - to turn out for the Midlands side. John Terry, Frank Lampard, Wayne Bridge and even Joe Cole, who has yet to start a Premiership game for Chelsea, could all have parts to play. Ranieri said: "Birmingham are a good side in good condition - but then so are Chelsea.
We have William Gallas back fit and we are ready. "We have had only one full day's training together plus a warm-down on Sunday after the international matches but that is always the problem on weekends like that. "But while Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen (whose Ireland and Iceland teams went out of Euro 2004) are hurting a lot, the England boys like John, Joe, Wayne and Frank feel very strong." .
Ananova

Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has claimed that the Italian giants turned down bids from Chelsea for star players Andrei Shevchenko and Alessandro Nesta during the summer.
Galliani revealed that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was prepared to part with £70 million for the players but he, along with president Silvio Berlusconi, turned down the offers, as they wanted to strengthen their squad and not bolster the squads of their rivals.
Chelsea made a late unsuccessful bid to prise Brazilian talent Kaka from Milan's grasp, Kaka will become one of the best players in the world without a doubt.

Sir Alex could not imagine leaving Old Trafford
>> Chelsea had been in touch

Ranieri is asked to unveil the side's tactics to owner Roman Abramovich ahead of every match.
Club chief executive Paul Smith revealed the Russian billionaire was showing an increasing interest at every game.But he insisted that did not stretch to taking greater control of the team.Smith told the Independent newspaper: "Roman has full confidence in Claudio.""He is getting more and more interested in the mechanics of the team and he has briefings from Claudio on the tactics. He does not interfere. He is just interested."

After the 2-1 victory against Boro this is what Ranieri had to say about the gap with Arsenal and Man United and the result of the match.
"It's just the table," he said. "We're working to close the gap.
"Some journalists say to me it's very close, but I say no, no, because we aren't used to coping very well when something strange happens. For this reason, I say we must work. We aren't like them. We have a good spirit, a fighting spirit, but sometimes we must improve our patience and our tactics.
Furthermore.........
"We need time. We need to understand when, for example here, Middlesbrough put us under pressure, we must be calm and close the space. If you watched the match on Saturday, Liverpool and Arsenal, in the last five minutes, Arsenal kept possession of the ball and slowed down the tempo and Liverpool could not do anything."
"I'm very pleased with the result," he said. "It was a difficult match. The first half was fantastic for us. We played very well.
"It's a cruel game this football," he said. "We were just saying, probably our best two performances of the season have been Leeds and here against Chelsea and we've lost both games."

Edgar Davids

Gianluigi Buffon Juve and best Italian goalie .
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Ranieri insisted Chelsea's Champions League dream was still very much alive : this is what he had to say..
``The Champions League is open because Lazio and Sparta drew which means Lazio have four points and we and Besiktas have three,'' said the Blues boss, whose team travel to Rome next month for the third round of matches.
``I am very confident,'' said the Italian. ``I expect a big reaction on Sunday. We have strong character which we always show, and I am sure we shall show our strong character on Sunday.''
``We made mistakes and when you make mistakes in the Champions League you concede a goal 99% of the time,'' said Ranieri, whose team failed to score despite playing against 10 men for the final 39 minutes
``I am disappointed because I lost Celestine Babayaro and William Gallas through injury, and I lost the game, but I still feel good and I feel confident.''
``The fact we didn't score at least one goal, especially in the second half, is very disappointing. It was difficult because they are a quality team``They might not have big names like Inter Milan or Real Madrid but collectively and individually they are good."

                                        OUR WORST NIGHTMARE CAME TRUE
Turkish Besiktas.took the game with a 2 - 0 victory . Chelsea were architects of their own downfall. They reacted slowly to a quick free kick and Sergen swept in the opener from Uzulmez Ibrahim's cross, a touch off John Terry wrongfooting Carlo Cudicini.
Marcel Desailly has won the Champions League twice. His prospects of a hat-trick receded as he left a through ball for Cudicini and the alert Sergen nipped in for his second, aided by a post and an aimless leap from the keeper.
Claudio Ranieri's chosen 11 provokes endless debate and, not content with swapping his players, Tinkerman decided to change formations as Chelsea went 3-5-2. His ongoing quest to give Juan Sebastian Veron a pivotal role appeared grounds for change; for 20 minutes, the Argentine was influential as Chelsea cruised.Strike partners Hernan Crespo and Adrian Mutu each fashioned themselves a chance and came close from long-range. Veron and Lampard had better opportunities, but indecision and a poor touch respectively meant Oscar Cordoba was not troubled.Then Sergen struck twice and Chelsea were floundering. For 15 minutes, their response was muted until Lampard, their sole source of drive from midfield, volleyed wide. Veron, with a low drive, and Mutu, with a shot the outstanding Okan Koc did well to block, also threatened, but it wasn't to be our night. We've lost 2- 0 .
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Frank Lampard

"It makes your whole game stronger. Something Claudio said - which I didn't realise at first but now I believe is true - is that if you go a few less times during a game into the opposition area it is more of a surprise to them.
"If you can show the quality when you get into those areas, that is what makes the best players dangerous. The best in the world, the likes of Michael Ballack, when they arrive they show real quality and that is something I have tried to add to my game". Frank added : "I would never take for granted that I am going to be picked every week, especially with the squad we have now. I would like to think the fact I played regularly last season was down to my performances and the fact the manager trusts me."
Team Talk