Still reeling from Nwankwo Kanu's 15 minutes of fame on Saturday, Chelsea arrived here yesterday to find Milan in imminent danger of falling apart.

While Gianluca Vialli returns to his homeland in search of at least a point to oil the wheels of qualification to the second group stage, the Italian champions' position has become so precarious that defeat tonight would see them ejected from the Champions League and, probably worse, forced to play with the small fry in the UEFA Cup.

The threat of such ignominy for the five-times winners of this competition should, of course, act as a spur to go out and inflict on Chelsea another dose of disappointment following the 3-2 home defeat by Arsenal on Saturday.

However, not even that is guaranteed from a side who, though undefeated in Serie A this season, show every sign of being able to beat themselves.

For instance, there is said to be friction between the club's owner Silvio Berlusconi, and the coach Alberto Zaccheroni after the former reportedly tried to have two players substituted during Saturday's win over 10-man Internazionale.

That game also had on-field spats between Massimo Ambrosini and Paolo Maldini, and Federico Giunti and Ivan Gattuso. The underlying theme of disharmony was evident too after Milan lost at Hertha Berlin last week.

"The players out on the pitch just were not following the instructions I gave them," said the coach.

Add to that the fact that George Weah is suspended, Demetrio Albertini is out injured, the likes of Serginho and Ambrosini are currently playing like drains, plus the fact that Oliver Bierhoff's head is lacking its normal service, and the signs are clearly there that Chelsea can at least repeat their 0-0 draw with Milan at Stamford Bridge, especially after last week's morale-boosting dispatching of Galatasaray.

That 0-0 home draw will have blown away any inferiority complex the Chelsea players may have felt when lining up against the champions of Italy, and there is no doubt that Vialli's multinational squad, including two former Milan players in Marcel Desailly and Carlo Cudicini, possesses the experience to cope with a noisy San Siro.

Graeme le Saux, who injured an ankle in the London derby, has not travelled with Chelsea's 21man squad but Vialli refused to admit to any anxieties, preferring to build up his own side rather than the opposition.

"I am very proud to come to the San Siro with two points more than Milan," he said. "It shows how far we have gone as a club."

That progress will largely be gauged by how well the Chelsea defence can maintain its frugal ways - just two goals conceded in four Group H games - and whether another Italian in Gianfranco Zola can repeat the torment he inflicted on Milan in the first game.

"Zola put us in difficulty at Stamford Bridge," agreed Zaccheroni. "We will change our tactics on him."

For Vialli, who joked that he was "not expecting a standing ovation" on his return to a stadium he knew well as a player, there was one result that would be acceptable. "I would be very happy with a draw," he said. That would leave Chelsea needing at least another point at home to Hertha Berlin in their final group game.

But there was another result that would be better. "Tomorrow's game is a great chance to do something really special," he added. "I'm very excited about coming here as a coach for the first time. If I could play the match I would."

That something special would be a win, to put Chelsea through to the next stage - though, ironically, it would leave the club with another problem.

Victory would increase Vialli's standing at home to a point where he could be offered a Serie A job. Maybe even Milan, and soon.

CHELSEA (probable, 4-4-2): De Goey; Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Babayaro; Petrescu, Deschamps, Wise, Poyet; Zola, Flo.

AC MILAN (possible, 3-4-3): Abbiati; Costacurta, Ayala, Maldini; Helveg, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Serginho; Leonardo, Bierhoff, Shevchenko.