‘I think we changed something in ourselves’ – De Zerbi on beating Chelsea and another Maddison injury worry

Roberto De Zerbi is hopeful James Maddison has avoided a serious injury after the midfielder was forced off during Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Chelsea.

Maddison will undergo further medical checks, but De Zerbi is optimistic the problem is not significant.

“I think it’s not a very important problem,” he said.

“We need to do the medical check tomorrow, after tomorrow, I don’t know.

“I hope it’s not a big problem because he’s a special player for us. We need him.”

De Zerbi was also delighted to end Tottenham’s poor recent record at Stamford Bridge and believes the victory was another sign of a mentality shift within his squad.

“I think what I call the negative record was the last problem we fought before the game,” he said.

“Normally we wanted to make our fans happy, but it’s not our responsibility, it’s the results of the past.

“Now, winning the game, we are very happy for them, very proud for the club.

“But I think we are working to change the mentality of our club in the last seasons.”

The Spurs boss pointed to a major team meeting before the recent game against Manchester United as an important moment.

“Seven points after Manchester, before Manchester we spoke a lot,” De Zerbi said.

“A big, big meeting, removing the mask and speaking honestly, clearly in front of ourselves.

“And from that moment I think we changed something in ourselves.”

But De Zerbi insists Spurs have achieved nothing yet despite their improved form.

“Why not? There is no reason why not,” he said when asked if the win could help continue that progress.

“We won two games in a row. We made seven points, okay. But we didn’t win nothing.

“We want to improve, improve and improve, to be better game by game, week by week.

“I think we have suffered enough.”