Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho explains Kurt Zouma and Petr Cech starting spots in win over Tottenham

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has once again lavished praised on Kurt Zouma after the Young centre-back impressed during the League Cup 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur playing in the middle of the park.

The Portuguese boss decided to deploy Zouma as a central midfielder with Cesc Fabregas and Ramires due to the absences of both Nemanja Matic and Obi Mikel.

Mourinho believes the French starlet was key in the game as without him helping Fabregas and Ramires they would have struggled to cope with Matic's absence.

"'It's very difficult for a central defender to play there, they are pressed in their faces, you have to think quicker and make decisions quicker, but our new Marcel Desailly worked very hard during the week and the kid did a fantastic job for us," the boss said.

"With just Fabregas and Ramires against a team like Spurs, we would have been in trouble because they move the ball very well. From the first minute we pressed them high, Lloris was building high instead of short. We didn't give them the game they were expecting."

Meanwhile, the Portuguese manager claimed that he opted to use Petr Cech ahead of Thibaut Courtois under the sticks because the veteran legend deserved it but wanted to thank the Belgium international for his performance against Liverpool in the semifinal.

"I chose Cech because this was his competition, we made a decision to make Courtois our first-choice keeper because he is the young one, the future and he is amazing for his age. We said this would be Petr's competition, but when I started giving him a Champions League or Premier League match now and again, I opened the door for myself to play Courtois in this competition," he said.

"I wanted to play him away at Liverpool and we were successful with that. They are both doing so well that everybody feels comfortable with every decision. I try to be fair and Petr deserved to play today but we all know Courtois deserves the cup as much as him."

"I want to say is that now I don't think about John Terry, Azpilicueta or Diego Costa. I think about Courtois, because without him there would have been no final, we would have lost against Liverpool. I think about Matic, Filipe Luis and Oscar, the guys who didn't have a chance to play. I think about Schwarzer, Salah, Schurrle, all the guys that started the season with us, they are all winners."