Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has backed the club's under-pressure boss Jose Mourinho to turn things around at Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League champions' dismal start to the season has seen them suffer six defeats in 11 league games, with Mourinho becoming involved in rows with the football authorities, referees, media pundits and his own club's staff.
The Portuguese has this week been hit with a one-match stadium ban and fined £40,000 by the Football Association after admitting a charge of misconduct, while former team doctor Eva Carneiro has filed an individual legal claim against him following her departure from Stamford Bridge.
Sources have told ESPN FC that Mourinho has two games to save his job and Ancelotti, currently out of work after being sacked by Real Madrid last summer, has been linked with a return to Stamford Bridge to take over on a temporary basis.
However, the Italian, who won the Premier League and FA Cup in the 2009-2010 season but was sacked the following year after a trophyless second campaign, has told Sky Italia in quotes picked up by AS that he was not sure where he would work next, while saying Mourinho was the "best manager" to get Chelsea out of their current predicament.
"I could return to Italy, although I also like the Premier League a lot," Ancelotti said. "In football you have to be ready for everything. I had a good time [at Chelsea], but the team has the best manager to solve its problems."
Ancelotti was also asked about his Madrid successor Rafa Benitez's reputation as a defensive coach, ahead of Los Blancos' meeting with another of his former sides, Paris Saint-Germain, in the Champions League on Tuesday.
"[Madrid] are a solid team, they concede few goals and have not yet lost," Ancelotti said. "They have got more solid, and that is why they are being called defensive. But you cannot be if you play with [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Karim] Benzema, James [Rodriguez], [Luka] Modric, and above all if you are Real Madrid."