**Enzo Maresca described Chelsea’s victory over Tottenham as “very important” after the Blues’ derby triumph at Stamford Brudge.**
Enzo Fernandez’s goal midway through the second half moved Maresca’s side into the top four.
They dominated for long spells against their London rivals.
However, they were grateful to the Video Assistant Referee when a Pape Matar Sarr strike was disallowed after a foul on Moises Caicedo was spotted in the build-up.
“Very important, first of all because, of the performance,” head coach Maresca said after the game,
“We know how important it is in this moment to win games, but since we start we try to win games in the way we want.
“I think tonight the performance was very good and we are happy.”
Chelsea had much the better of the first half, and were almost ahead within a minute when Tottenham defender Micky Van de Ven turned the ball against his own post after Nicolas Jackson had run through on goal.
The Blues failed to make the most of their early momentum, though, with their next clear-cut chance arriving on the stroke of half-time when Jadon Sancho forced keeper Guglielmo Vicario into a save with a curling shot form inside the penalty area.
Fernandez finally gave Chelsea the lead five minutes into the second half, heading in a Cole Palmer cross from close range.
The home side looked to have doubled their lead not long after, only for a lengthy VAR check to determine that Levi Colwill had been offside in the build-up to Caicedo lashing in a volley from the edge of the box.
A further VAR intervention then kept Chelsea ahead, with Sarr’s strike that crept underneath keeper Robert Sanchez ruled out after it was deemed that the substitute had fouled Caicedo en route to goal.
Spurs largely struggled to fashion chances to equalise from that point but in the final minute of normal time Sanchez made a vital save from Heung-min Son as he tried to slide home a Brennan Johnson cross.