Claudio Ranieri is tired of questions about his job security but when he said yesterday he was in the middle of a fortnight which could shape Chelsea's "future", it was hard to imagine he did not have his own position in the back of his mind.
Ranieri feels Chelsea must win at home to Arsenal today to retain a chance of winning the title and takes his team to Stuttgart in midweek for a first-leg Champions League tie. The Italian hopes for better results than at Highbury last weekend, when Chelsea started their critical two weeks by going out of the FA Cup.
There seems no danger of Ranieri leaving Stamford Bridge before the end of the season but he seemed to hint at the possible price of failing to win a trophy when asked whether this was the most crucial week of his time at Chelsea.
"I continue to work, I continue to build but I understand the moment," he said. "I'm not stupid." Earlier he said: "These two weeks could change our future."
Chelsea have not beaten Arsenal in 15 attempts since before Ranieri arrived and the coach said: "We need to win to try to stay very close with them and Manchester [United]. If Arsenal win they go nine points ahead and for us it will be very, very difficult to close this gap."
Chelsea will be without Carlo Cudicini, Hernán Crespo and Damien Duff, who could be on the bench in Stuttgart. Ranieri said his players did not play as a team in the second half.
"That's our problem this season," he said. "Sometimes when we concede a goal everybody wants to do something without thinking about the team."
Gianfranco Zola has said that Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich spoke to him last November about the possibility of returning to the club at some point. The striker, who left last summer to play for Cagliari, did not state what role might be offered to him.
"He suggested that I might come back to Chelsea at some point," said Zola. "It is something that has to be talked about. I need to find something I can do and at the moment I'm totally focused on playing. It's nothing more than that."
At Southampton, James Beattie has reassured the chairman Rupert Lowe that he would not "slap in a transfer request" if Glenn Hoddle was lured back to St Mary's.
The England striker was reported to be considering his future amid talk of the former Tottenham manager returning to succeed Gordon Strachan.
Hoddle tried to sell Beattie to Crystal Palace during his first reign at Southampton but the player told the BBC Sport website: "I never had a problem with Glenn, I certainly have no axe to grind with him or grudge to bear and I would not slap in a transfer request."
