Tottenham 0-0 Chelsea
by Tashan Deniran-Alleyne
at White Hart Lane

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted he has no problem with Diego Costa after leaving him on the bench during their goalless draw against rivals Tottenham at White Hart Lane yesterday afternoon.

The omission of the Spanish striker from the Blues’ starting XI was the biggest surprise ahead of kick-off and he remained among the substitutes for the duration of the London derby.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, the Blues boss highlighted that a number of his key players including John Terry have spent time on the bench this season and refused to give any indication as to when the 27-year-old will be recalled: “I think Diego is very privileged because he was the last one to be on the bench, I kept him in the team for all these matches and today we thought the best strategy to play was this one [without Costa] and we are happy with the decision,” the Portuguese stressed.

“I have a good relationship with him, no problems.”

“When we play as a team, especially defend as a team, the team is much better, playing the way we played, I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 10 matches we don’t lose one,” Mourinho added.

In a game of very few clearcut chances the Blues came closest to snatching all three points midway through the second half as Eden Hazard’s volley looked destined for the bottom corner, however, Hugo Lloris pulled off a fine stop to tip the ball away for a corner.

The Blues marginally shaded the first half in terms of attempts as Hazard headed over from close range, while Pedro’s fierce effort was deflected over the bar and Oscar fired into the side netting after dancing past Ryan Mason.

The point means the home side missed the opportunity to move into the top four but they were able to stretch their unbeaten run in the Premier League to 13 games and manager Mauricio Pochettino had mixed feelings after the game:

“Not really happy, I think we deserved more but it’s true that I feel very proud for the players, for me they are big heroes because the effort was massive,” he said.

“I think Chelsea played one of the best games of their season and always when you make the effort that we showed today and the maturity, you need to feel very happy for the players but a little bit disappointed because it’s only one point we got,” Pochettino added.