You've confirmed Antonio Rudiger has decided to leave Chelsea. Do you have any concerns about his focus or playing him for the rest of the season?
"No, absolutely no concern. He has no doubts and has made no doubts about it, he will play until the end of the season with everything he has. This is what he did from day one, and it's what he will do until the last minute. I am 100 per cent sure."
There was a slightly strange atmosphere today, is there a sense that you have to remind players there is plenty to play for this season?
"I think they know very well. I think today was a bit due to the uncertainty of the last results. Honestly, games like this against West Ham are, in my opinion, very hard to have a hard and spectacular game. And full credit. They normally defend with eight or nine players deep around their box, and they do this so disciplined that it's very hard to find spaces to accelerate.
"I did not expect a spectacular game in general, and the first half was a bit stuck. But that was because of a bit of uncertainty after the latest results here at home. We grew into it, never lost discipline, we never lost patience, understood the situation better when to accelerate, and we joined a bit with more courage and players when the acceleration was there.
"So we grew into it and created more chances minute to minute in the second half and then got the winner. Me personally, I don't know if there is any other way to play against them. I don't want to confuse it that we don't give everything. It can feel like this if you play against West Ham with a lot of possession, but at the same time, you have to be careful and disciplined to control the counter-attacks."
How difficult will you find it to bring in a replacement of the same calibre as Rudiger?
"At the moment, it is not possible because of the sanctions. And even when the sanctions are in the past, it will be incredibly difficult. Toni is what he is. He is a big personality, a big leader, he takes the fear away from other people, gives you confidence when he is next to you and has played 50-60 matches over 90 minutes with incredible consistency. So it will be challenging, but like always, no matter how much I love Toni and how big a role he played, there will be Chelsea without Toni Rudiger, and we will find solutions."
Just how hard did you try to persuade him to stay?
"Let him play all the time...even if he was no good! It's not only me, but it's always the club. I fought hard on a personal level, and we've had this kind of connection from day one. He deserves my full support because he delivered incredible performances, so reliable. So it was a give and take.
"I know he is very aware of it, and I am just happy to have had the chance to coach him and have him in the team because he was nothing but brilliant until today. The club did as well, we had big offers for him, and the club tried everything. But for some weeks, we can't fight anymore because of the sanctions. We could not adjust or continue, so it is what it is."
What is the injury Toni has, and what are your thoughts on Jorginho's penalty today?
"The injury of Toni, in one leg it's the groin and the other a bit the hamstring. He is somebody that plays through the pain and is used to it, but it's muscle pain and huge discomfort. He feels insecure because he is not used to having muscle injuries. So he feels like it could happen. He wants to come back, and the plan is he is back on Tuesday in training for Thursday [against Manchester United. Hopefully, we can stick to the plan.
"For the penalty, Jorgi has – or had – the perfect record with us. So we all believed we had finally the chance to score the goal we needed. He has a certain style of shooting, and I got the question just before, but when he scores – as he had done at a 100% level – it looks unbelievably cool and calm and composed. But when he misses, it looks like he could've done better. But it's style, and he is right to stick to it. He is upset with himself and happy that Puli (Christian Pulisic) turned things around."
Does the Rudiger situation provide a reminder that the takeover has to be sorted as soon as possible?
"It would be ideal, but you cannot pull grass, and it grows faster. We wish for it, but we have to deal with the reality, and the reality is that at the moment, sanctions are still in place, and the situation is not clear for next season. So we try for the last weeks to focus on what we can influence, and this will be the next match."
Was it good to take Christian Pulisic out of the team and give him a rest, and what do you want to see from him going forward?
"If you asked him, he would say it was not a good idea. It is like this, especially with the strikers. He had a period when he was on a run, had the confidence, was heavily involved upfront and Timo (Werner) had to wait for many, many weeks. Now things turned around a little bit from the Southampton game.
"Puli struggled a little bit since coming back from the international break where he had three matches, an incredible amount of joineries and timezones to cope with. From there, he struggled energy-wise. This was my impression, on and off the pitch. It's sometimes like this.
"Now we have tried to bring him back in full confidence from the bench, and I am happy with the effort today, and I am happy he had the chance to have this big impact with Romelu and Hakim. It was super important."
