Roberto De Zerbi hailed Tottenham as a “complete team” after they claimed a 2-0 London derby win over Chelsea.
Having gotten off the mark on Monday with their first Premier League win of the season over Coventry City, Tottenham prevailed away at Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2018, though they received a helping hand from Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders.
Penders, filling in for the injured Emiliano Martinez, endured a Premier League debut to forget as he punched a corner into his own net 13 minutes from the end of normal time.
Chelsea star Cole Palmer was then sent off for a second bookable offence, before Mathys Tel made sure of the points with a fine individual effort.
And De Zerbi was effusive in his praise of his players after they secured back-to-back wins to move up to 12th in the table.
“It was a big moment for the fans, the club and the players also,” De Zerbi told Sky Sports.
“They deserved this win, they prepared very well. We are improving a lot, we are improving in the mentality, in the group and the relationships with the players and then we are improving on the pitch.
“Against Aston Villa, Everton for 30 minutes we were playing very well. Maybe no goals, no finishing good enough to score and maybe in the first bad moment we changed mentality. Now it is a complete team. The players are playing better, we improved in the style.
“When we stay for dinner and stay together in the dressing room I see a different group, a different relationship and different atmosphere among the players.
“The character was today great but we have many, many new players. The players who stayed here last season, two or three seasons ago, they suffered the last results, two times 17th position, we are working to change the last part of the history of the club.
“We are lucky because we have many great people in the dressing room, many great players. I think if we work hard we can do something important.
“I have to believe for sure in this group. I never lost the confidence in my players. The week in Marbella [during the international break], to speak better face to face, to open ourselves and remove the mask it is important. It is important for the spirit, the belief. The atmosphere inside the dressing room is maybe more important than the tactics.”
Chelsea came into the game on the back of successive victories, but head coach Xabi Alonso conceded the Blues were far below their best.
“We are all disappointed with the result, with the performance collectively and individually we were not at our best level,” Alonso told Sky.
“It was about the first goal and it went their way and with 10 men it was difficult but we can do better.
“Chances were the main thing, they had few and we had few. We spoke at half time we had to be patient and be mature. We can do better.
“We wanted to have this fluidity in the middle. We wanted the pockets filed with Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers. There were situations but overall we have to do better.”
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