Jose Mourinho revealed Tottenham s players were left disappointed by the draw with Chelsea, with the Spurs boss lauding a complete change of mentality .
Spurs returned to the top of the Premier League table – on goal difference – thanks to a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, as Mourinho arrested a two-match losing streak in the top-flight to his former star player Frank Lampard.
Tottenham, who were 2-0 winners over Manchester City last time out, managed only five attempts, with just one of those on target, which came from Serge Aurier in the 15th minute.
Chelsea, on the other hand, had 13 goal attempts, with Hugo Lloris called into action three times – twice late on to deny both Mason Mount and Olivier Giroud, who latched onto a Joe Rodon error in stoppage time.
Mourinho believes the draw was a fair result but insisted his team were not happy, a reaction he believes shows the development of the players.
The one thing that I take from the game, that a draw here normally is a positive result, Mourinho told Sky Sports.
To go top of the league with that result is also a positive thing, and my dressing room is not happy – that s the best thing I take from the game.
We are not happy, and that for me is fantastic. It is a complete change of mentality, a complete change of personality.
You can tell us we didn t have many chances, and I agree, but how many did they have? That s the thing that makes me really happy – we are not happy with a draw at Stamford Bridge.
13 Spurs have won 13 points away from home in the Premier League this season (W4 D1) converting to three-points-per-win all-time, only in 1960-61 have they earned more points from their first five games on the road in the top-flight (15). Foundations.
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It was the first time Chelsea and Spurs – who are on eight and nine-game unbeaten runs respectively – have played out a goalless draw in the Premier League since November 2015, and the first time in a top-flight game at Stamford Bridge since March 2012.
It was a game without many chances. I believe it is a game where they wanted to win like we did, but we respected them and they also respected us, and nobody gambled, nobody tried to change the direction of the game, said Mourinho.
Everybody was in the situation of one mistake, I punish you, I win , especially in the last 15, 20 minutes. They had one shot from long distance, we had in the first half more than in the second half. A big game, a difficult game to play for both.
Tammy Abraham squandered three presentable chances for Chelsea in the second half, with Lampard stating the only thing missing from his side s display was cutting edge in the final third, with the Blues boss delighted by the hosts defensive resilience.
It went how I sort of expected. I expected us to have a lot of possession and we did, said Lampard, whose side restricted Harry Kane and Son Heung-min brilliantly.
At least one of Spurs two chief destroyers had scored in every league game since they missed out in a draw with Newcastle United in September.
I thought we created enough chances to win the game, so we had good control, Lampard added.
The clean sheet factor against a team that we ve seen are set up to play on the counter-attack, I thought that part of our game was excellent, to deal with the threat of Kane and Son in particularly, didn t really give them a sniff, but didn t quite take our chances.
