Enzo Maresca hails Chelsea for 'dirty' win over Tottenham and admits 'mistake' with Cole Palmer decision | OneFootball

Chelsea were not at their fluent best against Tottenham, but the points are all that matters at this stage of the season

Enzo Maresca hailed his Chelsea team for learning to win “dirty” after they downed Tottenham in Thursday’s derby - and admitted he got his late substitutions wrong.

The Blues claimed a 1-0 victory courtesy of Enzo Fernandez’s second-half header in a chaotic game which saw both sides deprived of a goal by VAR.

The result - Chelsea’s fifth home Premier League win on the spin - sees them climb back into the top four with only eight games of the season to play.

That set up a nervy finale at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues hanging on through more than 12 minutes of stoppage time.

“I just said to the players that we don’t work every day to win games in the way we did, or play in the way we did in the last ten minutes, in terms of waiting for them and giving the ball to them,” Maresca said.

“But if you want to become a team, you also have to learn to play the way we did in the last ten minutes, to win a game in a dirty way. I think for 90 minutes, until added time, we were in control, we created enough chances to win the game.”

Maresca moved to solidify his team as the clock ticked towards the 90th-minute, sending defender Tosin Adarabioyo on in place of Cole Palmer and switching to a back-five.

That changed happened seconds after the fourth official raised his board to show a dozen added minutes as a result of the two long VAR reviews, and Maresca admitted afterwards that the tactical switch invited too much pressure, too soon.

“To be honest, it was my mistake,” he explained. “I made the changes before I saw the added time and when I saw 12 minutes I thought it was probably too early to make that kind of change.

“But fortunately we won the game and we are happy.”