Mourinho blames fatigue as Spurs fall to third consecutive loss

After the home defeat to Chelsea, Tottenham boss Mourinho stood by his team on Thursday, but could not disguise a dreadful start.

"The performance in the first half was inferior to Chelsea. They had the initiative. They had the ball," he said.

"But the reality of the first half is that with them being superior, it was a penalty that decided the first half and that decided in the end the result of the game.

"In the second half we were much better and because we were much better they were not superior at all."

Although his side did finish strongly and could have earned an undeserved point had Carlos Vinicius not missed a glorious chance it was still a chastening night for Mourinho who suffered consecutive home league defeats for the first time in his career.

"Confidence levels are very, very important to play football," he said. "When a team doesn't have good results, a period when results are not good, you need that click back to go back to normality."