Xabi Alonso believes he has seen signs Chelsea are maturing and playing more intelligently since he has taken charge.

The Blues finished 10th last season and both Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior left as head coaches during the course of the campaign.

But they sit fourth in the Premier League table ahead of hosting Tottenham on Saturday and have won their last two matches 5-1 against Bournemouth and 2-0 against Everton, the latter representing their first league clean sheet since Rosenior’s first league game in charge back in mid-January.

Alonso said on Friday he wants his team to play “with head, with heart, intelligently” and was asked whether he believes his team are already further along than last season’s Chelsea team.

“Well, I don’t like to compare,” he began. “I think there has been a progression in some parts. I think we have developed a few things that are in the right way — defensively, offensively, repeating patterns that have the security of achieving what we want.

“And that gives you more sense of control. And when you have a better sense of control, you are closer to winning games.

“When the game is out of control and you don’t know what is happening, you haven’t got a good feeling. So far this is something important to have this stability and consistency that we want to compete in the Premier League.”

Chelsea also boasted record-breakingly bad discipline last season but appear to have cleaned up their act already under Alonso.

He said: “For me, it comes a lot with emotional control, with the control of the game.

“I think that if you are focused on what you have to do, you are prepared for what's going on. Normally you don't make that many mistakes and you don't overreact to certain situations.

“For me, this is a fundamental part of the game, to have that emotional control, to deal with all this.”

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