Tottenham deserved more from Chelsea draw, says Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino felt his Tottenham side deserved more than a point after their goalless draw with Chelsea at White Hart Lane.

The Spurs boss called his players "heroes" for the effort they put in against Jose Mourinho's men and argued Chelsea adopted the tactics of a smaller club.

Pochettino would not be drawn on Mourinho's decision to drop striker Diego Costa, though, and simply stated his side had to be ready to face whichever Chelsea players were on the pitch.

Asked whether he was satisfied with a point, however, Pochettino said: "No, not really happy. We're disappointed that we didn't get more in the end but it is true that I feel very proud of the players, for me they are heroes because the effort was massive.

"I think Chelsea played one of their best games of the season and I think always when you show the effort and maturity that we showed today I think you can be very happy with your players. But also a little bit disappointed because it is only one point."

Despite the game being end-to-end at times, there were few really clear-cut chances, although Pochettino felt his side manufactured enough to win the game.

"I think we created enough to score. I think we shot four times on target, more off target and they had only one shot on target in the second half with Hazard," added the Argentine.

"I think we deserved more in a very difficult game. They played very deep and on the counter-attack and tried to defend and I think we showed a good, mature performance.

"Perhaps we had a lack of mental freshness [after the trip to Azerbaijan in the Europa League] but in the end I am pleased with the effort, it was a massive effort.

"We had to cancel the training session on Friday, we arrived back at 5am. It is not an excuse but maybe it is not physical, but it is mental tiredness."

The result extends Tottenham's unbeaten league run to 13 games - their longest since 1985 - but Pochettino was quick to play that down.

"Longest unbeaten run since 1985: for me it is nothing," he said. "We just look forward to the next game and we want to win so we can stay high up in the table. But it is true that it is good to be unbeaten since the first game of the season."

Pochettino also took some pleasure from suggestions that a draw with the reigning champions was considered two points dropped for Tottenham.

"Yes, this is a good thing because they are the last champions," he said. "It is good that you got the feeling that Chelsea was maybe a small team and that Tottenham can win every game that we play.

"It is not easy, we are the youngest team in the Premier League and the maturity that we showed today and in other games means we need to feel happy.

"I think it is a good thing that maybe you are a bigger club than Chelsea or that we deserved more. But we need to keep working hard because it is only 14 games in the Premier League and we want to achieve things at the end."

Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason went off with an ankle or Achilles problem in the 56th minute and will be assessed early next week.