Tottenham 0 Chelsea 0: Five things we learned as Jose Mourinho's side looked to have turned a corner

Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino's team are good enough to mount a title tilt

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho (Getty Images)

1. Compact and resilient Chelsea are on the way back

Jose Mourinho said afterwards that he has his team back, and while this was not the attacking Chelsea side of last season, they did at least display basic Mourinho characteristics.

They were compact and well organised; the defence, even without John Terry, was shielded by Nemanja Matic. Apart from Son Heung-min’s first-half header, they barely allowed Spurs a real chance throughout.

2. Only jet lag stands between Spurs and title shot

Spurs’ big home wins under Mauricio Pochettino have been built on overwhelming the opposition with physical and emotional energy. That is what they did to Chelsea here 11 months ago, but yesterday they simply did not have the resources. The Spurs players landed at Stansted Airport just before 5am on Friday morning, after playing Qarabag in the Europa League. Their only preparation for this game was a training session on Saturday.

Pochettino does not like to make excuses but he pointed to a lack of “mental freshness” from his players and said that they were “mentally tired”. Eight of those who started here started in Baku and it certainly felt like this was one of the games where the calendar conspired against Spurs.

Tottenham are good enough to win the league, as they showed against Manchester City in September. Whether they can sustain that level while playing most Thursday nights as well is another matter.

3. Mourinho has finally lost patience with Costa

Mourinho could not have delivered a clearer vote of no-confidence in Diego Costa. Going into the biggest game of Chelsea’s season, their only available striker, the man who fired them to last year’s title, was left on the bench. No striker, clearly, was better than that one.

Mourinho and Costa exchanged furious words on Tuesday when Costa failed to make a run, and on Friday Mourinho said Costa was not “reading the game properly”. That lack of movement in behind is the biggest change in Costa’s game this season, and the reason Eden Hazard was a dangerous replacement.

Hazard tried to run in behind Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, and Mourinho was impressed by the effort. Hazard’s clever movement at the far post created Chelsea’s two best chances, and even if it was not enough for a goal, it was more than Costa has done recently.

4. Tottenham’s defence now has substance to match style

Tottenham cannot shred the opposition every week, but their defensive stability means they do not always need to. This was another good day for the triangle of Hugo Lloris, Alderweireld and Vertonghen, who dealt well with the threat of Hazard trying to run in behind.

Vertonghen misjudged one long ball, but this was a far cry from the bad old days of Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches, Federico Fazio and all the errors and mix-ups of the past few years.

When Hazard did get through, Lloris brilliantly denied him.

This is why Spurs are undefeated since the opening day of the season, and why they look so different from the Spurs teams of the past. If those three stay fit, they have the foundation to progress further.

5. Sunday lunchtime kick-off will never be a winner

This was the most important game of the season so far and yet it did not have the atmosphere or the intensity that it deserved. That is no criticism of the 35,639 crowd, but rather an acceptance that few people are very enthused about anything at midday on a Sunday.

The game also kicked off just 55 hours after Spurs stepped off their flight home from Azerbaijan, leaving their players unable to reach their usual peak of physical power. Chelsea, too, played in Israel on Tuesday night.

Neither of these teams are playing in the Capital One Cup this week. In a sane world this game would have been moved back to tonight, but not in this one.