Gullit stands by his critique of Leicester

Ruud Gullit, the Chelsea manager, yesterday laughed off the suggestion that he had purposely fired up Leicester City before today's FA Cup fifth- round replay by saying: "I was only telling the truth."

Chelsea appeared to be cruising into the last eight after goals from Roberto Di Matteo and Mark Hughes, but Leicester hit back after the break, Steve Walsh hauling scoring before Eddie Newton put through his own goal to leave the sides facing a replay.

Gullit's response was to call Leicester "lucky", saying their long-ball game had generated only two set-piece chances, and he was "very comfortable" about Chelsea going through.

The Leicester manager, Martin O'Neill, and their captain, Walsh, were furious, but their complaints did not rattle Gullit. "I don't worry about what I said, because I didn't lie," Gullit said. "What I said wasn't designed to upset them. I just said what happened. It was a fact, and I don't know why they have to be upset about it."

Chelsea have doubts over their goalkeeper, Kevin Hitchcock, and Dan Petrescu, so Frode Grodas, Andy Myers, and possibly Gullit are on standby. O'Neill welcomes back Neil Lennon, Emile Heskey, Muzzy Izzet and Matt Elliott from suspension.

A meeting between Football Association officials and local police seems to have eased any fear of punishment for either Leicester or Chelsea over fighting between their fans during the first half at Filbert Street 11 days ago. The match was held up for less than a minute and Leicester security staff were praised for their prompt action.

Steve Double, an FA spokesman, said: "As things stand, we are satisfied with how the situation was handled."

The FA will investigate an incident at Birmingham in which a missile was thrown at a linesman during the FA Cup tie against Wrexham. The FA has asked Birmingham to outline their crowd-control plans before deciding if they took all reasonable steps to ensure safety.

Emerson will return to the Middlesbrough side for their Coca-Cola Cup semi-final first leg at Stockport tonight after completing a two-match ban. However, Boro will be without Juninho, who as he will be playing for Brazil against Poland, and their injured defenders Derek Whyte and Phil Whelan.

n Mick Jones, Plymouth Argyle's caretaker manager, is to be offered the manager's job in succession to Neil Warnock.