Ranieri Speaks!

Claudio, still reeling from the loss of Carlo Cudicini for at least a month, said of Ambrosio: "Marco is different from Neil Sullivan, who needs to play every week to achieve his fitness as he has a different body. Marco is more reactive, he may not play for a month or two but then, when he does play, he is ready.

"I was sure of his performance against Bolton and now I hope he can continue in this way as he is very important for us without Carlo. Marco certainly played very well against Bolton. He gave calmness to the defence and saved the result for us.

"In the first half we were sleeping but that is normal when you have played in the Champions League earlier that week as you use up a lot of mental energy. It was important for us to wake up and after the first half they were tired of shooting at goal! Ambrosio had saved a lot of chances but then we started to play football and counter-attacked very well.''

Now on to Duffer.... "I'm very pleased with him as he ran a lot. He ran six or seven kilometres. It was his best performance in running and in high quality. He is improving and that is important for us as he scores or makes goals."

Both are almost certain to start at home to Fulham tomorrow.