Ranieri defends Le Saux

Le Saux saw red after picking up a second yellow card for a foul on Mauricio Taricco with 15 minutes left of the game. Chelsea did not suffer from the sending off and still ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. But Ranieri said: "I have watched the video and you can see Graeme doesn't really touch him. In my opinion, it wasn't a bad foul. He tried to kick the ball and when he saw the leg he jumped. He has not hit the leg of Taricco.

"In my opinion there were a lot of fouls in the game. I think Le Saux's fouls weren't the worst."

And claims that Le Saux has now blown his World Cup chance was dismissed by Ranieri but he knows that Eriksson will make the final decision, "Le Saux is a good player, he can play in two roles, and he is good enough to play for England, but whether he does must depend on what Eriksson thinks, and I respect Eriksson."

But Tottenham's Les Ferdinand, lucky to have remained on the pitch after kicking out at William Gallas early on, feels that Le Saux had to go: "It was a bad tackle by Le Saux, but there had been a few of them throughout the game. He had to be sent off for that tackle and his temperamnt has been suspect throughout his career if we are honest."