17/04/2004  Chelsea 0 Everton 0
 
Claudio Ranieri's grip on his job as Chelsea coach was probably loosened even more this afternoon.

His team blew the chance to open up a six-point gap over Manchester United in the race to finish runners-up to Arsenal in the Barclaycard Premiership and clinch automatic qualification for next season's Champions League when they were held 0-0 by Everton.

Just as Middlesbrough did a week ago, David Moyes' side frustrated Chelsea and held them to their second successive goalless draw at Stamford Bridge - earning the Merseysiders a welcome point in their quest to guarantee their top-flight status.

It was hardly the warm-up Chelsea had hoped for ahead of Tuesday's Champions League semi-final, first leg, in Monaco.

And it was not the kind of performance Ranieri would have wanted when former Barcelona boss Louis van Gaal was at the match - reportedly as a guest of chief executive Peter Kenyon.

With Sir Alex Ferguson's men losing at Portsmouth in the lunchtime kick-off, Ranieri would hardly have needed to give his team a pre-match talk.

And Chelsea indeed started brightly with the England trio of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Scott Parker all working the midfield well in front of watching national team manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Having dictated the early stages without seriously threatening goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, Chelsea eased up a little and Everton's first chance to make a mark on the game came after 12 minutes from a free kick on the right side of the box, 20 yards from goal.

Wayne Rooney curled the ball around the wall and Marco Ambrosio punched it away with both fists.

After 24 minutes, Parker fed Lampard on the left edge of the box and the England midfielder beat Martyn, but saw his chip come back off the bar.

Next it was the turn of Cole to drag a low shot just wide after 26 minutes, before a Chelsea corner from Geremi on the right after half an hour saw Adrian Mutu rise really well, but head over the bar.

Everton came close to scoring after 32 minutes, but were denied by good reactions from Ambrosio.

Chelsea failed to clear a free-kick and when the ball fell to Rooney on the six-yard line, he drove a shot against the goalkeeper's legs.

Everton fans shouted for a penalty after 41 minutes when Robert Huth pushed Tomasz Radzinski to the ground, but referee Graham Poll was right to award a free-kick the other way as the visiting striker had been holding Huth's arm.

The big Chelsea defender was a little too complacent a minute before the break when he allowed the ball to run back to Ambrosio. Rooney nipped in to hit an angled shot which the goalkeeper had to block with his body.

A minute into stoppage time, Hasselbaink let fly from 25 yards and Martyn had to dive to his left to beat the ball away.

Cole's trickery won Chelsea a free-kick on the right edge of the box six minutes after the restart when he was floored by Gary Naysmith. However, the chance was wasted when Huth simply drove the ball into the base of the wall.

The game deteriorated rapidly and the poor quality of Chelsea's finishing was highlighted after 75 minutes when Cole was so wide with an effort from the edge of the box that it ran out for a throw rather than a goal kick.

Chelsea knew it was not going to be their day when Lampard's low drive after 84 minutes crashed against the base of the post and Hasselbaink just failed to make contact with the rebound.

At least they can now focus on the competition they have thrived in and look forward to heading off to Monaco on Monday morning.