Premiership/Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea: Chelsea chairman Ken Bates said yesterday that manager Claudio Ranieri has no intention of leaving the Premiership club this summer.

Ranieri, who has coached Valencia and Atletico Madrid in Spain and Italian strugglers Fiorentina, is believed to be on a three-man shortlist to replace Barcelona's Carles Rexach at the end of the season.

The Spanish giants claimed they had started talks with Ranieri, who has a year left on his current contract at Chelsea and has not yet signed an offer to extend the deal by two years.

However, the Chelsea boss, who does not have an agent, insisted that it was merely one of his acquaintances who had been contacted by Barcelona and stressed he was not interested in moving back to Spain.

Bates, who discussed the situation with Ranieri over the weekend, confirmed Ranieri is happy with life in London. "I'm quite sure Barcelona would consider Claudio as one of their possibilities if they do change their manager but he ain't going there, it's as simple as that," he said.

Chelsea defender John Terry is intending to catch a flight to join his team-mates in time for tonight's game at Blackburn after making a court appearance this morning on charges following a nightclub incident.

The 21-year-old defender has also shrugged off the after-effects of 12 stitches in a head wound last Saturday when he crashed into a goalpost against Everton.

William Gallas faces a fitness test along with Celestine Babayaro, who has a hamstring problem, and Jesper Gronkjaer, who has a foot injury, although all three of them may not return until Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Fulham.

Midfielder Jody Morris, who has been charged along with Terry, will also appear in court tomorrow but will not travel to the game at Blackburn due to an ankle injury.

Blackburn manager Graeme Souness claims a weekend of rest has done his squad no good at all as they gear up for a vital clash with Chelsea.

With most top-flight managers bemoaning the congested end-of-season fixture list, Souness admits he would rather not have had 10 days without a game.

Souness said: "It doesn't help to have the weekend off. It's not nice to fall behind. Ideally we want to be playing games, but the other teams' results seem to have gone our way so we didn't miss out.

But Souness insists "the pressure is still on" as Rovers look for a fourth consecutive home victory to pull clear of the Premiership relegation zone. Record signing Andy Cole returns after serving a three-match suspension for his sending-off at Bolton.