Thoughts from Matteo Kovacic on the win and closing the gap

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Matteo Kovacic in action against Tottenham in Chelsea's win 

Chelsea midfielder Matteo Kovacic said that the Chelsea players always felt that they could go and get a result against Tottenham that the quick start by Chelsea in North London was a big factor in the victory.

Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea side completely dominated from the get-go against Jose Mourinho's Tottenham, with the difference being a first half penalty from Jorginho as Chelsea won 1-0.

Chelsea could and should have been out of sight in the first half before Tottenham applied some pressure late into the second half but overall Kovacic who shone once again in Chelsea's midfield alongside Jorginho and Mason Mount was pleased with Chelsea's performance.

'We are happy to have secured the three points' said Kovacic who reflected on the derby win.

'We were confident heading into this game, as we had come of the back of two good performances and knew we needed to get a result here.'

'Personally I think we did a good job. We were a little bit unhappy that we weren't able to score a second goal in order to kill of the game, which would have made things a lot easier in the last 15 -20 minutes, but we are very happy as it is always difficult playing against Tottenham.'

For us that's not three clean sheets in a row and the defence and the goalkeeper have been amazing and it makes us confident of their abilities. 

'Defensively the whole team is doing well , we are playing well and in the last three games I believe that we have improved a lot. We need to to continue moving forwards like this as there is still a lot of football to be played this season and I believe  this team can do great things.' 

Kovacic has quickly established himself as a regular starter under head coach Thomas Tuchel, starting in midfield in all three of the Germans games in charge of Chelsea.

Kovacic has been very impressive in a more deeper midfield role and was quick to praise Thomas Tuchel and the impact that he has had on the current squad following Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season and the Croatian fully believes that Chelsea can start looking up at the table again. 

'We have started well under the new manager'  said Kovacic. 'That makes it two wins in a row , plus the draw in the first game , as the Croatian explained to us what he expects from Chelsea. He added 'We have started very well but I think we could do better.'

'Against Tottenham we played very well and if we continue like this then I think we can certainly push for a top four finish. I believe this team are good enough and we deserve to be up there but you have to work hard for it. So lets just take it game by game and see where this takes us.'

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