Ranieri ponders a host of problems

Leicester too strong for troubled Chelsea as Arsenal grind out win and champions take strike show on the road

By the time Stan Collymore stopped celebrating his goal, Leicester City's second at Stamford Bridge yesterday afternoon, the home support could roughly be divided into those who walked out, those who stayed to jeer, and those who sat in stunned silence.

By the time Stan Collymore stopped celebrating his goal, Leicester City's second at Stamford Bridge yesterday afternoon, the home support could roughly be divided into those who walked out, those who stayed to jeer, and those who sat in stunned silence.

It is thought Claudio Ranieri, the club's new "head coach" in place of the deposed Gianluca Vialli, was among the third group.

In 1965, when Leicester City last won a league match at Stamford Bridge, Ranieri was a 14-year-old schoolboy in Rome. Many clubs and two countries later he finds himself embarking on a new enterprise which, it became clear yesterday, will not be easy.

Chelsea, who were beaten by goals at each end of the match from Muzzy Izzet, a player never given a chance to build a career with the club, and Collymore, appeared at the end to be leaking confidence and heart.

To be fair, most teams' spirit and work-rate would pale in comparison with that of Leicester, who return to second spot with this victory, behind Manchester United on goal difference. It would seem unlikely that they could stay there but, in the resurgent Tim Flowers, the midfield axis of Izzet, Neil Lennon and Robbie Savage, and central defender Matt Elliot, they have players of quality. They are also well organised and play to their strengths. However, they lack the depth to maintain a championship challenge though a tilt at a Uefa Cup place is not beyond them.

Chelsea are 17th, one place and one point off the relegation zone. Ray Wilkins, who with Graham Rix prepared the team for yesterday's game, said: "The dressing room was flat beforehand and it is a difficult period but it bears no comparison to the upheavals at the club when I was a player here. This is a minor hiccup in a very good set-up."

Ranieri, said Wilkins, had visited the dressing room before and after the match. "He said he had seen a group of fellows who were prepared to give their utmost for the club and that he had plenty to work with. He was aware morale goes down in these circumstances and told them these things happen."

Beforehand Colin Hutchinson, the chief executive, had said Ranieri was "a man-manager. He knows some players need a kick up the posterior and others an arm round the shoulder."

Hutchinson, who confirmed the club had made a bid for Savio, the Real Madrid left-flank player, also denied he had signed Winston Bogarde, who made his debut yesterday, behind Vialli's back. He came in for Frank Leboeuf. Booed in midweek, Leboeuf was said to be nursing not a broken heart but an abdominal injury.

In attack Chelsea unexpectedly retained the three-striker formation of Gianfranco Zola, Tore Andre Flo and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink which had not been a conspicuous success against St Gallen, of Switzerland, in midweek. It was no better yesterday.

The bad start did not help. Leicester are the last team to concede an early goal to, they have only been beaten by a penalty in nine hours of Premiership football. Yet Chelsea allowed Izzet a free header after seven minutes, the midfielder drifting across Marcel Desailly to head in Lennon's cross following a clever pass from Savage.

An already tense atmosphere was immediately heightened and threatened to explode when Dennis Wise tangled with Izzet, who cleaned his boots when an apprentice at the Bridge, 11 minutes later. While both were being booked Hasselbaink, in a further indication of Chelsea's fraught condition, berated Christian Panucci for some perceived failing.

The game gradually settled as Leicester drew the wagons up across their 18-yard line. Behind his resolute defence Flowers comfortably saved a series of 20-yard shots and watched another, from Hasselbaink, blazed wide. That prompted chants of "Are you Sutton in disguise?" from the Leicester faithful in a reference to last season's Chelsea misfit, Chris Sutton. The Dutchman was soon booked for dissent as his frustration boiled over.

The home crowd were just as unhappy - especially with Flo, who wasted a series of good opportunities. A willing worker outside the box, he looks desperately in need of a goal to revive his confidence inside it. His personal nadir came after 63 minutes when Hasselbaink headed Le Saux's cross against the bar only for the rebound to bounce off the unfortunate Flo's head.

Leicester, reprieved, sought to kill the game and, after Elliott and Richard Cresswell missed chances to do so, Collymore stabbed in Steve Guppy's cross. The crowd, who had just greeted Hasselbaink's substitution with chants of "You don't know what you're doing" and "Vialli" repeated the cries.

There was just time for Wise to lose without grace, having a dig at Flowers, before the whistle blew and Chelsea were left to ponder their next fixture, away to Manchester United on Saturday.

Goals: Izzet (7) 0-1; Collymore (82) 0-2.

Chelsea (4-3-1-2): Cudicini; Panucci (Melchiot, 90), Desailly, Bogarde, Le Saux; Di Matteo, Wise, Morris, Zola; Hasselbaink (Gudjohnsen, 78), Flo. Substitutes not used: Terry, Harley, Hitchcock (gk).

Leicester City (3-5-2): Flowers; Rowett, Elliott, Gilchrist; Impey, Savage, Lennon, Izzet, Guppy (Davidson, 84); Akinbiyi (Collymore, 70), Eadie (Cresswell, 70). Substitutes not used: Sinclair, Royce (gk).

Referee: G Barber (Tring).

Bookings: Chelsea: Wise, Morris, Hasselbaink. Leicester: Izzet.

Man of the match: Flowers.

Attendance: 33,697.