Rarely has a goalless stalemate satisfied Jose Mourinho so much.

Chelsea's draw at Tottenham on Sunday left the Premier League champions 15 points behind leader Manchester City and still without back-to-back wins in the title defense.

But the Blues were facing a Tottenham side which extended its unbeaten run in the league to 13 matches — the best since the 1984-85 season — and sits 10 points ahead of Chelsea in fifth place.

What the trip to White Hart Lane showed Mourinho is that his team is gradually rediscovering its spirit and defensive solidity with a third consecutive clean sheet, including the mid-week Champions League win against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

"It's the best Chelsea (performance) of the season as a team," Mourinho said. "We deserved a bit more than we've got. I'm really happy with the performance. The team defended like a team ... against a team that presses really well and aggressively."

Chelsea, though, is still closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places in 14th place. But there are 13 matches gone and another 25 to go.

"I think we have the team again and we look to the future with a better spirit," Mourinho said.

Although Diego Costa ended Chelsea's three-match losing run in the league with the only goal last weekend against Norwich, the striker was dropped because Mourinho believes "things are not going really well for his confidence."

Instead it was the diminutive Eden Hazard who was deployed as a false nine despite having not scored a goal all season for Chelsea. Though dynamic across the field, it took Hazard until the 68th minute to register his team's first shot on target when his volley was kept out by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris' diving one-handed save.

"We have to win if we want to finish in the top four," Hazard said. "We know it's difficult."

Chelsea's European game in Israel was on Tuesday, but Tottenham appeared to be feeling the effects of a longer trop to Azerbaijan to play in the Europa League on Thursday and provided little goal threat.

"The players are heroes because the effort was unbelievable at the end of a difficult week," Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said.