Face off: Wenger ready for shoot-out with Ranieri

TALK of tonight's all London Champions League quarter-final was almost an inconvenience for those attending the pre-match press conferences at Chelsea and Arsenal yesterday.

The main topic, indeed almost the only topic for discussion, was the managerial future of Claudio Ranieri, with both the Italian and his Highbury counterpart Arsene Wenger put under the spotlight.

Amid increased speculation over his future, there have been reports that Ranieri gathered together his players to tell them he knows he will be sacked in the summer.