No Roman holiday for Chelsea

CLAUDIO RANIERI chose the eve of his new Chelsea side’s biggest test so far, to deliver a blunt warning to his multi-million pound squad that they must still keep on improving.

Chelsea may sit in second place in the Premiership, while topping their Champions League qualifying group at the halfway stage ahead of an enticing fixture away to Lazio.

However, even though Ranieri has always known that it would take time for his new squad to gel together, he has still made it clear that he expects none of his players to rest on their laurels.

He declared: "I am convinced that this team could improve more, and we must improve more. I am not so pleased. I am pleased that our start has been good, but I am convinced that we can improve much more.

"Next season we must consolidate, but now is the time to improve.

"I knew that I had very good players, but the difficulty lies in linking together, and playing with each other. So far, I'm pleased, but not too much."

Ranieri was heartened by the way his side hung on for victory at Everton last weekend, but still concerned at their failure to finish the game off.

"Everton had three or four big chances to score, while we also had two or three good chances to close the match. We cannot leave the result open like that, we must be more clinical," he warned.

However, his opposite number Roberto Mancini is adamant his club has the ability to pull off victory tonight. "I want to try and beat the English team, and then Roma," Mancini told Lazio's club website.

The Biancoceleste have had the ideal preparation for the double-header, with a 2-1 win at Udinese at the weekend putting them in the right frame of mind.

First they hope to grab the win against Chelsea which could see them displace the Londoners at the top of Group G, with two matches still left to play before the end of the first round.

Lazio will have to do without veteran goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi, who has failed to recover from a thigh injury, and former Ipswich Town keeper Matteo Sereni stands in. It will be a big occasion for Sereni who has made only two league appearances for the Biancoceleste.

Experienced Dutch defender Jaap Stam is still struggling with a hamstring injury, with Portuguese defender Fernando Couto, who missed the first clash in London, set to take his place.

Chelsea boss Ranieri is weighing up whether to start with former Lazio duo Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo, who was given a "60-40" chance of recovering from a groin injury, against their former club.

While Marcel Desailly will be missing from the side as he recovers from injury, Ranieri is counting on his key players to rise to the occasion.

"Of course, when you play against an Italian team, everyone says it is difficult, and the Olympic Stadium is a good theatre," said the Chelsea boss.

"I think that my players want to show a good performance. For Crespo and Veron, I think it's very important for them to play well for Chelsea, and also a little more because this stadium was their stadium in the past."

There is also the added intrigue of Ranieri having grown up as a Roma fan, meaning that this fixture holds an emotional element for the Italian too.

Ranieri, whose family still live in Rome, said: "It's good for me to come back. I was a Roma fan, I used to go to their games when I was younger, so it's like a derby for me."

Ranieri last managed a team in the Olympic Stadium seven years ago, when he was with Fiorentina, although his success since then has come abroad with Valencia, Atletico Madrid, and now Chelsea.

"I still had some good success in Italy. When I was younger, I started with Cagliari and then I was at Napoli in the first season after Diego Maradona, which wasn't easy, before moving to Fiorentina," he recalled.

"But I always look forward, it doesn't matter what they think about me. The Italian journalists believe that the English journalists hate me, but I don't believe that. I think we have a good relationship even if you want to kill me."

That misconception stems from the pressure which Ranieri is inevitably under, following the huge investment made by Roman Abramovich this summer. "For Mr Abramovich, every result is important but he doesn't put us under pressure, he enjoys the matches and gives us a lot of support each time," stressed Ranieri.

Then again, for the man charged with building the Roman empire at Stamford Bridge, the Eternal City is exactly where his side's progress so far will be judged.