Kenyon throws down gauntlet to Ranieri

CHIEF executive Peter Kenyon has increased the growing pressure on Claudio Ranieri by stressing the importance of Chelsea holding off the challenge of Manchester United to finish as Premiership runners-up.

Chelsea were not only beaten 3-1 by Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night, but found that United closed the gap on them to just one point in defeating Charlton.

Ranieri's side must still travel to Old Trafford, but they also face a tricky game at Newcastle on Sunday, with two draws and two defeats since qualifying for the last four of the Champions League.

The Chelsea boss is already under considerable pressure following his controversial substitution policy in Monaco, but defeat at St James' Park could undermine him even further if his season starts to fall apart.

For although Chelsea have already made sure of finishing in the top four, Newcastle found to their cost this season that just reaching the preliminary round of the Champions League rather than qualifying automatically can be perilous.

Newcastle's defeat on penalties to Partizan Belgrade cost them several million pounds in potential revenue, even though they have gone on to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup instead.

Kenyon warned: "This is the first time Chelsea have been in the semi-finals so we've already made history. But when you're in the semi-final, you can almost smell the final just ahead of you. There's another big game coming up and it's not out of our grasp yet as 2-0 would do it.

"But we have to concentrate our efforts first and foremost on a massive game on Sunday against Newcastle as we've still got it all to do there as well.

Kenyon, who secretly sounded out Sven-Goran Eriksson before the Swede committed his long-term future to England, has hardly helped to strengthen Ranieri's position at the club. He was photographed in Spain with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich earlier this week, reportedly having just met Isuo Jorge Mendes, the agent of Porto coach Jose Mourinho, one of the leading candidates to replace Ranieri.

That alleged meeting led to Porto making a complaint to UEFA over Chelsea's apparent interest in their manager just ahead of their own Champions League semi-final first leg tie. Together with defeat in Monaco and criticism of Ranieri's quixotic substitutions by unnamed 'senior club officials' in one newspaper, it also served to create further speculation of a summer sacking for the Chelsea boss.