Roberto De Zerbi was a happy man after Tottenham smashed their Stamford Bridge hoodoo to win 2-0 at Chelsea on Saturday night.

Spurs registered just their second win in 42 games in all competitions in SW6. The visitors should have taken the lead just before the half hour mark, when Andy Robertson, after a one-two with Mathys Tel, found Omar Marmoush unmarked in the box but his first-time strike was too central and Mike Penders saved.

Tottenham were the better side in the first half but lost James Maddison just five minutes into the second period as he waved to the bench to come off. He was replaced by former Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher and trudged disconsolately straight down the tunnel.

There was plenty of fight which spilled over in the 70th minute. Van de Ven and Fernandes both fouled Chelsea players to try to stop a break after a poor Gallagher pass. Cole Palmer then came over and barged into Fernandes off the ball as he sat on the floor.

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That sparked clashes between the two benches with yellow cards dished out for Fernandes, Palmer, Van de Ven and De Zerbi as well as a Chelsea staff member.

Just minutes later Spurs took the lead. A Fernandes corner curled into the six-yard box on 77 minutes and young Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders, in for the injured Emi Martinez, punched the ball behind him and over the goalline.

Matters got worse for the hosts three minutes later when Palmer, already on a booking for barging into Fernandes, caught Sandro Tonali late on the edge of the Chelsea box. The referee Chris Kavanagh brandished a second yellow card and then the red.

Spurs wrapped up the match with a wonderful goal. Mathys Tel raced from his own half and cut inside two challenges before hitting a perfect low shot right inside the left-hand post. De Zerbi raced down the touchline towards the travelling fans and celebrated at them.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to De Zerbi. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Stamford Bridge.

That must have been exactly what you wanted from your team?

Yes. This is a normal answer, but we played 90 minutes, we played very well. Great individual performances, great collective performance because we played very well. And then we put something different than Tottenham, I think, in the last period. Different attitude, different relationships with the players, different group.

How proud are you of some of the younger players, like Fernandes, Tel and Gray?

Changing the spirit of the group, changing the performance of the players, especially the more fragile players, maybe the younger players. Mateus Fernandes maybe was one of the best players on the pitch like Mathys Tel. Archie Gray is younger, but he's older as a mentality. I'm very, very happy.

How is James Maddison?

I think it's not a very important problem. 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.

Do you think that because you have young players and it's a new team, it means they're less worried by Tottenham's bad history in this game?

I think what I call the negative record was the last problem we fought before the game.

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.

Seven points after Manchester, before Manchester we spoke a lot. 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.

Do you think that Cole Palmer could have been sent off for the first yellow card?

Yep.

Is that what you were saying on the sideline?

Yes, but it's not a problem.

But you must have been proud, because Fernandes gets booked as well, but he reacts well and maturely?

I love watching my players fighting on the pitch. But Mateus Fernandes played 90 minutes with a big, big quality. I want to see Mateus Fernandes with personality. I want to see Fernandes enjoy with the ball. Even if he can make a mistake, it doesn't matter. It's not a problem, a mistake. But I want to see this personality from my team.

We are a big club. In the last period the results have been not so good. But we are a top club in the Premier League. We must show personality. We must show mentality. We must show our qualities to the players. Otherwise we have to change.

You didn't just win, you dominated the ball as well, didn't you?

Yes. Maybe in the first half we suffered too much. At half-time I said to the players 'you are playing very well, but we are conceding too much than the game is saying'. Because we lost one ball in the left side, Micky van de Ven and Tonali, and we concede the goal [shot]. We lost the ball in build-up with Toni Kinsky and Palmer shoots, for nothing. We could create more chances, also in the first half. I think we dominated the game. But we created too few [chances], if you consider the quality and the level of our performance. But we can't forget, Chelsea is still Chelsea, they have a clear style of play, clear organisation, great players, great coach. So the level of difficulty of the game was high.

Will a win like this help to continue to change things?

Why not? There is no reason why not. I can't understand why we have to ask this question. Because we won two games in a row. We made seven points, OK. But we didn't win nothing. We can find again the first period. We want to improve, improve and improve, to be better game by game, week by week. I think we have suffered enough.

Were you pleased with your new signings?

JP van Hecke played very well. Mateus Fernandes, I said. Tonali, very well, the best game in his time in Tottenham. Marmoush, he played a good game, it was a tough game for him. But he played, he fight in the right way. But Mathys Tel played very well. I think we won the game with two wingers, Kudus and Mathys, they made the difference. Also Micky van de Ven, because he was unbelievable with the ball. I think, in my time, Micky van de Ven played the best game.

How have you changed the mentality?

I think I'm lucky because I have great players and great people. When you work with smart people, sensitive people, they already know what we need to do to be better. To improve the situation, to change the situation. We have many, many great guys on the dressing room. I think the credit is for them. And now we have to keep this way.