Chelsea looked like a team with other things on their mind last night as they struggled to beat the champions of Switzerland. But the recriminations were few. As soon as the final whistle sounded the club's thoughts returned to the rest of Europe where they hope to find a manager to lead them to greater glories than competing in the UEFA Cup.

By a process of elimination and the injection of common-sense into the proceedings, the leading contender now appears to be Frank Rijkaard. The Chelsea fans in last night's far-from-capacity crowd blamed Vialli's sacking on Frank Leboeuf, booing the Frenchman's first touch of the ball, presumably because of his recent revelation that "everybody has problems with Vialli".

The players began the game eagerly. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, twice, and Tore Andre Flo went close before Christian Panucci put Chelsea ahead after 22 minutes. A great ball from Dennis Wise found him in the area and the Italian saw his shot cannon off the keeper and loop over the line.

However, St Gallen had done enough to warn Chelsea against complacency. Pereirs Guido forced a diving save from Carlo Cudicini on nine minutes and Jerren Nixon shot just wide on 34.

Swiss hopes were raised further at the start of the second half as Chelsea started giving the ball away with alarming regularity, however St Gallen could not capitalise.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Panucci, Leboeuf, Desailly, Hasselbaink, Wise, Le Saux, Di Matteo, Flo (Gudjohnsen 73), Dalla Bona (Morris 74), Zola. Subs Not Used: Bogarde, Hitchcock, Melchiot, Ferrer, Harley. Booked: Desailly, Hasselbaink. Goals: Panucci 22.

St Gallen: Astiel, Guido, Winkler, Muller, Nixon, Imhof, Amoah, Zwyssig, Zellweger, Jairo, Dala Santo. Subs Not Used: Pinelli, Contini, Gane, Eugster, Alder, Collacino, Didi. Booked: Muller, Dala Santo, Amoah.

Referee: V Torres (Spain).