Di Matteo pleased with display

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo insists there was more to his team’s win over Tottenham than their impressive attackers.

Juan Mata scored two and set up another while Eden Hazard made a pair of assists and Oscar continued to show signs of his talent in a 4-2 win in the English Premier League on Saturday.

But Di Matteo was quick to praise the efforts of his team instead of focusing on the contributions from his star men in the attacking third.

“You focus on those players but, if you look at (John Obi) Mikel and Ramires in midfield, what kind of work they did and our full-backs and defence… we always focus on the team,” Di Matteo told Sky Sports.

“I know those are the ones who are more creative and probably smoother on the eye to watch but we have a good team and we showed the team spirit as well.”

The Italian was thrilled with his team’s performance, having come back from a 2-1 deficit following a quick burst from Tottenham just after half-time.

“If you look at the whole game, it probably was only those 10-12 minutes in the second half where Tottenham got back into the game, with the early goal after half-time, where we lost a little bit of our control,” Di Matteo said.

“For the rest of the game, I think we very much took the initiative and had a lot of control of the game, created a number of chances and we deservedly won.

“It was a test of our characters today coming here, at White Hart Lane, with a team in form, with four consecutive wins, a big derby for us.

“After the international break, there are always a few question marks over how you’re going to start the new cycle but I think the response we gave on the pitch today was perfect.

“The way we’re playing, it’s very pleasing for us. We go away from home and we have the same attitude as at home – we want to play forward, we want to keep the possession, we want to control the game and try to be the team who impose ourselves on the opposition.”

But while Di Matteo was eager to focus on his team, Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said it was the attacking trio who decided the game.

“My reflection would be that creativity and brilliance solved the game and Oscar, Hazard and Mata were brilliant,” he told Sky Sports.

“We came very strong in the second half, full of desire and ambition to turn things around – which we did.

“But, through individual brilliance and the creativity that Chelsea have, they always unlock defences and, when they committed themselves to it, they created problems and they went on to revert the result once again.”