English FA Premiership/ Chelsea 0; Middlesbrough 0: So much for Chelsea's Easter rising. Far from snapping at Arsenal's heels over the holiday weekend, they appear to have called off the pursuit.

It seems that knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League was not enough to persuade Claudio Ranieri that Arsene Wenger's team could be overtaken in the Premiership. Instead, Arsenal's recovery to beat Liverpool on Good Friday further convinced the Chelsea manager that the leaders can not be caught.

Or maybe the helpline to Tinkerers Anonymous was permanently engaged. Either way, the four changes made by Ranieri on Saturday did much to stop Chelsea's charge in its tracks, producing a tepid, scoreless draw with a Middlesbrough team itself weakened by injuries to several defenders.

Not that Ranieri is wrong to make the Champions League his priority. Chelsea have an outstanding chance of reaching the final and there was a degree of logic in his decision to rest Damien Duff, Wayne Bridge, Scott Parker and Mario Melchiot ahead of the first leg of their semi-final in Monaco tomorrow week.

At the same time, Chelsea surely need to retain a modicum of interest in the Premiership at Aston Villa today, however remote is the likelihood of their winning it. If they start dropping points regularly, Manchester United could still pinch second place, leaving Ranieri's team once more having to qualify for the next Champions League.

Always assuming that it will still be Ranieri's team, though, perhaps emboldened by recent results and public demonstrations of support from fans, Ranieri admitted he wants a definitive response on his future from Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon when the manager's agent, Jon Smith, meets Kenyon on Wednesday.

"I want a conclusion because I think it is important to close all the speculation," Ranieri told BBC Radio 5 Live. "I love my job a lot because I feel good at Chelsea and I would love to stay. I don't know what is in Peter's mind, but I want to stay.

"If a compromise was speaking about taking responsibility for the academy and everything then yes, I can think about this kind of job."

Ranieri's agent believes Chelsea should clarify the manager's position before the semi-finals of the Champions League.

"Both sides need to clarify their position because it has been so public," said Smith."I met with Peter Kenyon last week and we said to each other that circumstances had overtaken us all and we need to sit down and make this come to a successful conclusion, one way or another, and that is what we are working towards.

"I asked Peter if Chelsea wanted to keep Claudio and there wasn't a straight answer. There are issues he wishes to discuss and we agreed it would be better to discuss those now, in a quieter place, between him and Claudio - and that is what is going to happen this week.

"They are Chelsea issues. I don't think they are anything cataclysmic, they have a way of running their club and they want to see if Claudio can be part of that mindset."

And the workings of the key mind in the Chelsea's set-up were as veiled as ever on Saturday.

Roman Abramovich looked on with his usual inscrutability as Ranieri's attack pottered around Middlesbrough's half without achieving sufficient penetration to put serious pressure on Steve McClaren's patched-up defence.

Compared to their two previous performances, at Highbury and Tottenham, Chelsea's football was loose and prone to unforced errors.

The finishing was generally slipshod, with Joe Cole, given a rare starting role, looking nothing like the exciting prospect he had appeared at West Ham, and even Frank Lampard miscued more than once. Without Duff, Bridge and Melchiot, Chelsea's movements badly lacked width until Geremi replaced Jesper Gronkjaer after half-time.

Gronkjaer's form had been improving but on Saturday he was more duff than Duff. The loss of Claude Makelele, taken to hospital for a knee scan after coming off the worse in a 50-50 tackle with Gaizka Mendieta, did little for the balance of an already off-balance midfield. Makelele's replacement, Juan Sebastian Veron, has been out for most of the season, and it showed.

Apart from Gudjohnsen hitting a post seven minutes before half-time and Marco Ambrosio clawing out of the air a free-kick from Mendieta that was heading towards the top of Chelsea's net five minutes from the end, nothing much else happened.

This time Ranieri shed no joyful tears. Any from the crowd were born of frustration.

Guardian Service