Leeds United 0 Chelsea 0

	Smith fires in a shot, but John Terry was lurking to hack the ball off the line (MichaelSteele/Allsport)

'Normal' was how he described Graeme Le Saux's horrific twofooted assault on Danny Mills during this goalless draw. 'Shameful' would have been more accurate - and shame on the Italian for condoning such behaviour by one of his players.

Shame, too, on Le Saux for launching the kind of tackle which can cause serious injury and has the potential to endanger the livelihood of a fellow professional.

At a time when the Professional Footballers' Association is urging all its members to stand by each other over the threat of strike action, the Chelsea defender chose instead to scythe down a colleague.

Mills somehow escaped with only the imprint of Le Saux's studs on the back of his right thigh and knee. Even more surprising, however, was the fact that the Chelsea player got away with only a yellow card.

The England defender was one of six players who refused to travel to Tel Aviv for the UEFA Cup-tie against Hapoel. Four of them started yesterday and it was clear that Le Saux and Emmanuel Petit, in particular, believed they had something to prove.

Le Saux's performance in the first half gave the impression he was anxious to show he was not a lily-livered deserter. If that was the case, he went too far trying to make up for staying at home.

There were two incidents in the first quarter-hour which suggested more than just the normal - to use Ranieri's phrase - niggle which exists between teams with a record of 66 yellow cards and five reds in their last 10 meetings.

It is not a good idea trying to wind up a player like Mills. Le Saux, however, was doing just that within the first few minutes. He then cleared a loose ball from the feet of Robbie Keane and somehow managed to lift his boot high enough to endanger the chances of the striker ever having children in the future.

It was bizarre. On paper, this was the battle between David O'Leary's streetwise guys and the pampered rich kids from the capital.

It should have been a no-contest, but instead it was Chelsea who were scrapping and barging and throwing their collective weight about.

Petit was superb in the centre of midfield and his struggle with Olivier Dacourt made a match generally short of entertainment absolutely engrossing.

Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Petit were thwarted by Nigel Martyn, who enjoyed an impressive afternoon when called on. But Mark Bosnich was by far the busier of the two keepers, and was not found wanting when the tests came along.

Such a test came when Keane fed Lee Bowyer with a delightful reverse pass after 31 minutes. Bosnich got down well to block, then Mark Viduka's follow-up lob was acrobatically cleared off the line by William Gallas.

The 29-year-old Bosnich also threw himself in front of a Rio Ferdinand half-volley in the first half after the Leeds skipper had chested down an Ian Harte cross before turning inside Petit and Le Saux.

In the closing 20 minutes of the match, Bosnich came into his own as he denied Viduka, Harry Kewell and Alan Smith, who was on as a 76th-minute substitute for Keane.

The 20-year- old striker immediately had a second bite at the cherry, but an acutely-angled drive was cleared off the line by John Terry, the second time Chelsea had a great escape.

The Australian goalkeeper was making his Premiership debut for the club he joined at the turn of the year and his was a display of which he could be proud.

Courage, of course, is one of the attributes which has been called into question at Stamford Bridge, but this was a gutsy point gained through toil and perseverance.

Away from the bravery debate, recalcitrance is not something which has been synonymous with Chelsea teams in the past few years.

Whatever positives Ranieri and his players can extract from retaining their unbeaten record, however, were tarnished by Le Saux's cowardly act, which had resonances of his stray elbow on Robbie Fowler when the two were in dispute three seasons ago.

To make matters worse, natural injustice then saw referee Paul Durkin send manager O'Leary to the stand for the second half for protesting while the Chelsea captain re-took the pitch. 'Disgraceful' was how the Irishman described the challenge.