Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri has been reassured that he is under no pressure despite having so far failed to turn around the Blues' fortunes since his arrival at the club two months ago.

Ranieri's predecessor, Gianluca Vialli, was sacked as the club believed he had taken the team as far as he could.

Since he left though, Chelsea have gained just 11 points from a possible 24 in the Premiership and have also been knocked out of the UEFA Cup and Worthington Cup.

The Blues, who travel to Everton this weekend, have still not won away from home this season, with defeats at Southampton and Charlton in the past three weeks dropping them down to 14th place in the table.

However, Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson insisted: ''If anyone is suggesting that we are already thinking about getting Claudio out, then they are being ridiculous.

''He is under no pressure at all and just needs time."

Ranieri warned last weekend following the defeat at Charlton that he was not a magician who could transform the club's fortunes overnight and insisted he was under the right sort of pressure.

Hutchinson added: "Claudio talks and listens to the players and only this week he got them together for a meeting.

''He listens to what they have to say to him and if someone is left out, he explains his reasons for doing so.

''We just have to get our form right away from home. Claudio has signed a contract for more than two-and-a-half years and we have every intention of letting him do the job.

''Certain changes were needed and that's why we did what we did. To get where we did in five years meant we had to bring in a lot of experienced players.

''Despite what others may think, we could not have got these experienced players from the English market.

''They were too expensive and there was not enough quality."

Chelsea this week sold striker Tore Andre Flo to Rangers for £12m and reports have so far linked them with possible interest in West Ham's Frederic Kanoute, Wimbledon's Jason Euell and Inter Milan's Robbie Keane.

Flo's departure has nevertheless placed even more pressure on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Gianfranco Zola to produce the goods.

Zola paid tribute to Flo as he declared: ''I think Tore wanted to take all the chances to play and that is totally understandable.

''I wish him well, he is a smashing guy and it's been a pleasure to play with him."

Zola nevertheless knows that Chelsea's immediate priority this weekend is to secure their first away win since April 1.

''We desperately need it. At Charlton we played well for the first 30 minutes but we have to learn how not to concede easy goals. We have to be a bit more solid."

As well as holding a meeting with his players this week to discuss their away problems, Ranieri also showed them a video of their 2-0 defeat at Charlton.

But Mario Melchiot said: ''Things are not going right for us but this isn't a time to blame individuals."