Every victory for Claudio Ranieri only heightens speculation that Chelsea is about to fire him.
Despite a resounding 5-2 victory Saturday over Wolves -- Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored a hat-trick on his 32nd birthday -- Ranieri's job was in question following published photos of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson at the home of Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The always talkative Ranieri skipped a news conference Saturday, issuing only a brief statement.
"I'm most definitely not talking to any other football club," Ranieri said. "We're six points behind Arsenal and very much in the Champions League still. All I'm doing at the moment is focusing on trying to do my best."
Under the headline "Sneaky Sven," the Sun tabloid said Eriksson had a two-hour meeting on Thursday with Kenyon with orders from owner Roman Abramovich to sign him within two weeks.
The Sun said it understood the Russian billionaire was prepared to offer the Swede ?100,000 (US$180,000) a week with bonuses of ?1 million (US$1.8 million) for winning the Premier League and ?2 million (US$3.6 million) for capturing the Champions League.
Eriksson declined to comment with the English Football Association demanding an emergency meeting with the Swede. Some reports suggest he may resign from England before this year's European Championship.
The victory moved the Blues to within six points of Arsenal with the Gunners facing Manchester United on Sunday.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE
Hearts solidified their hold on third place in Scotland with a 3-1 victory over Dundee.
The win moved the Edinburgh side 10 points ahead of fourth-place Dunfermline. Celtic leads the league by 16 points over Rangers.
Paul Hartley, Stephen Pressley and Joe Hamill scored for Hearts with Steven Milne finding the back of the net for Dundee.
The big match comes Sunday when Rangers face Celtic at Ibrox in the fourth Old Firm match of the season. Rangers have lost all three and have yet to score.
Spanish league
Defender Aitor Lopez Rekarte scored an own-goal in injury time as Deportivo de La Coruna beat Real Sociedad 2-1 and moved into third place in the Spanish league.
Uruguay striker Walter Pandiani also scored for Deportivo, while Turkey striker Nihat Kahveci leveled for Sociedad.
Deportivo, with 56 points, overtook FC Barcelona for at least 24 hours, while Real Sociedad stayed in 14th place with 35 points. Real Madrid leads the standings with 61 points, followed by Valencia with 60.
Espanyol beat Athletic de Bilbao 2-1 and boosted its hopes of avoiding relegation.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 5-2 but still showed the weaknesses that will probably cost the club its 18th Bundesliga title.
Leading 3-0, the second-place Bavarians gave up two quick goals after the break and fell into a panic, with only the crossbar preventing Moenchengladbach from equalizing.
Bayern finally sealed the win when Owen Hargreaves, taking advantage of a defender's mistake, rolled the ball into the goal in the 88th minute. Michael Ballack followed with an injury-time goal.
Rein van Duijnhoven of VfL Bochum set a goalkeeper record in a 2-1 loss to Schalke. The Dutchman kept a clean sheet at home for 911 minutes until Thomas Klaesener's close-range shot ended the streak in the 78th minute.
Dortmund was held 1-1 by Hannover, Freiburg routed bottom-place Cologne 3-0, Rostock beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-1, 1860 Munich thrashed Frankfurt 3-0, and Leverkusen raced past Berlin 4-1.
DUTCH LEAGUE
SC Heerenveen moved into a tie for fourth place in the Dutch premiership on Saturday, edging RBC Roosendaal 1-0 on Gerald Sibon's header.
The game was coach Foppe de Haan's 500th at the Heerenveen helm. He will retire at the end of the season, but still has a fighting chance of gifting his successor a spot in the UEFA Cup as his team is level with AZ Alkmaar on 48 points.
The top three all play Sunday with Ajax defending an 11-point lead over PSV Eindhoven.
Stefano Seedorf, cousin of AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf, hit a breakaway hat-trick as NAC Breda stormed to a 5-0 halftime lead. NAC won 5-2.
Saturday's final game finished in a thrilling 3-3 draw between Vitesse and RKC Waalwijk. German striker Paulo Rink's stunning equalizer two minutes from time gave struggling Vitesse the precious point. But it remains third from bottom, four points adrift of ADO The Hague and heading for postseason relegation playoffs.
FRENCH LEAGUE
Brazilian striker Giovane Elber's first-minute goal was enough to keep Lyon on top of the French first division following a 1-0 win away to Nice.
Defending champion Lyon, which has 63 points, leads Monaco on goals difference. Dado Prso's second-half strike gave Monaco a precious 1-0 win at Le Mans and kept it hot on the heels of Lyon.
Greek Cup
Vassilis Lakis scored one goal and set up another Saturday as AEK Athens drew 2-2 at crosstown Panathinaikos in the first leg of the Greek Cup semifinals.
Down to 10 men for all of the second half -- and nine in the dying minutes of the game -- AEK now enjoys the advantage with two important away goals for the return match on April 7.
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