Claudio Ranieri could find himself out of a job this weekend if his Juventus side fail to beat Palermo, despite an unbeaten start to the 2008/09 season.

True, the Bianconeri have not set Italy or Europe alight yet this season, but to suggest Ranieri is well behind his targets is a little misleading.  After five rounds of fixtures in Serie A they are just three points behind leaders Lazio, and they have picked up four points from their opening two UEFA Champions League fixtures in a group which also contains Real Madrid and Zenit St Petersburg.

Unfortunately for the former Chelsea manager, though, that group also includes BATE Borisov. Juve directors were said to be furious that Ranieri’s side had to come from 2-0 behind to snatch a point from the Belarusian minnows on Tuesday, a result which really had the fat lady clearing her throat in anticipation of a change of leadership at the Stadio Olimpico.

Reports in Italy now suggest Ranieri has one game to save his job, and that is this weekend when Palermo visit Turin. His replacement is likely to be former club hero Ciro Ferrara, who won seven Scudetti between 1994 and 2005. The 41-year-old was part of the coaching staff during the Azzurri’s successful World Cup Finals campaign of 2006, and still joins Marcello Lippi for international duty.