Ranieri tips Fulham for Champions League

Claudio Ranieri today tipped Chelsea’s bitter west London rivals Fulham to be the Premiership’s “surprise of the season” and join the scrap for a Champions League place.

The capital clubs drew 0-0 in an entertaining derby last night and Ranieri, who clocked up his 100th match in charge of the Blues at Loftus Road, was hugely impressed by the hosts.

The Cottagers have lost just once in 15 competitive matches this campaign – a run which has taken them coasting through the Intertoto Cup into the UEFA Cup and into sixth place in the top-flight table.

“Fulham can be the surprise of the season,” Ranieri said. “Jean Tigana’s working very well.

“He won the First Division two years ago and last season they played well but without scoring goals.

“This season they are scoring a lot of goals, so maybe they can come and fight with us for a place in the Champions League.”

Tigana today pledged he would not be distracted from his job by fresh revelations over Fulham’s future location.

Chairman Mohamed Al Fayed yesterday insisted his homeless club will never embark on a permanent groundshare and revealed they have identified two sites for a new ground in west London.

Tigana’s team are playing at QPR’s ground for two seasons, while a nine-strong group of local residents fight a two-pronged legal battle to prevent Craven Cottage’s proposed revamp into a 28,000 all-seater stadium.

Al Fayed said: “We’re exploring the possibility of one or two other sites in west London as a fall-back position.”

Tigana responded: “I enjoy it here (at Loftus Road). My job’s to try and win.

“I keep my focus on that and look after my players. The rest is down to the chairman.

“We played a very hard game last night and gave the maximum, against a fantastic team which were very strong.

“My players are very tired as the game was played at 100mph. We did well defensively and I’m happy.”

Ranieri, apart from praising Fulham, also told Sven-Goran Eriksson that Chelsea’s midfield dynamo Frank Lampard is the man to inspire England’s Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.

Eriksson’s assistant Tord Grip watched from the Loftus Road stands as Lampard excelled last night.

The Blues’ Italian manager believes 24-year-old Lampard should be in the England team when their qualifiers kick off with the double-header against Slovakia and Macedonia next month.

Ranieri said: “Frank deserves it, in my opinion. He’s a very good, fantastic player and very intelligent.

“He has quality and strength – and put in a good performance last night.

“Last season, he went forward too many times. Now, he stays and goes forward sometimes.”

Goalkeepers Carlo Cudicini and Edwin van der Sar ensured this derby tussle ended goalless.

Italian Cudicini made a fantastic save from Junichi Inamoto in the 43rd minute, clawing the ball away from the bottom right corner.

Chelsea centre-back Robert Huth, making his first league start, had two of the Blues’ clearest chances.

He made a hash of a header from Gianfranco Zola’s free-kick – and forced Dutchman van der Sar into a brilliant save late on, palming away his 18-yard drive.

Huth, 18, stood in for the injured Marcel Desailly. He said: “Being third is quite good.

“We’ve started the season well and hopefully can go on from here.

“I was very nervous before last night’s match, but it was good experience for me to play.”