Chelsea growing in confidence as hard work pays off with another win

Post-match player interviews tend to be fairly banal affairs.  After losses, players talk about keeping their heads down, working hard, and doing their best to change the results in the next game.  After wins, players talk about confidence, working hard, and keeping things going one game at a time as long as possible.

And so, here are César Azpilicueta and captain Gary Cahill to talk about confidence, working hard, and keeping things going one game at a time as long as possible.

"Always a win and to be top of the table gives you more confidence because this is where we want be and, obviously, even at this stage, it is important."

"I enjoy winning, we are in good shape and we are keeping clean sheets, we are scoring goals and that's the most important thing. We, the players, are enjoying the way we are playing. It is still a long way to go, but we climbed to the top of the table when we had the chance and we have to keep working. The most important thing is to finish, in May, in this position. We are there and we are working to keep this place and to try to be there at the end of the season."

-César Azpilicueta; source: Goal

Captain Cahill, pulled into the pitch-side interview corner by Sky Sports alongside Man of the Match Victor Moses showed off his media training as well.

"What does it mean to go top? It means that we're happy. We're happy with today's work but the league is not won today. We know that, there's plenty more football to come it's not even Christmas. There's a lot of football to come yet. We've got to keep going, keep the foot down and keep trying to produce performances like we have in the last few weeks."

"It says confidence is up, the spirit it up in the side. We're in a good moment as a side and on the training ground."

-Gary Cahill; source: Sky via Star

Don't be mistaking my cynicism for unhappiness though or let that take away any credit from the actual performances by the players.  This has been a tremendous six-match run by Chelsea and hopefully it continues for another six at least.  The squad are clearly brimming with confidence, playing well, and getting rewarded for their effort and commitment in training.  Most importantly, they're reproducing in-game what they're drilling during the week.  On Saturday, we even got away with a couple mistakes, such as Kanté's dreadful giveaway in the second-half that presented the ball to Adama Traoré.

As another cliche goes, one that we've been repeating regularly since the Hull City win, the next game will be the toughest test.  Unbeaten Spurs and their best-in-league defensive record are up next.  One game at a time.