Branislav Ivanovic believes his hamstring injury has, in some respects, been a blessing in disguise as he has returned to the Chelsea side in better form than before his absence.
The Serbian admitted he had not reached his usual standards at the start of the season and was the lightning conductor for the fans' ire.
However, he has now been part of a team that has kept three clean sheets in a row.
He said after the 0-0 draw at Tottenham: “When you look now, it was good for me as I have gained in physical fitness.
“Mentally I'm really strong and I try to do everything in these kind of games. It gives me the confidence and I hope in the next couple of games I will improve a lot.”
In pictures: Chelsea's draw with Tottenham
Ivanovic believes he has learnt a lot from his and Chelsea's bad start to the season and will be doing his utmost to make sure that isn't repeated.
He added: “I think all of us didn't expect this start. It was a shock for all of us. It's taken time to react to everything that's happened and get down again.
“I learnt a lot from that. I know where I made mistakes and I will do everything in the future to not repeat that.”
Results since the international break suggest Chelsea have turned a corner and Ivanovic has felt confidence among the side building.
He said: “Everyone can feel confidence building and everyone can see that. In the last couple of games, we have also got results.
“Even before that when we lost a couple of games we've played well. I think the team spirit is back and we are all again on the right track and want to do everything to try and get points back.”
Tottenham were going into yesterday's game as favourites and the draw extended their unbeaten league run to 13 games.
For Chelsea, though, it was a chance to build on their win over relegation strugglers Norwich and Champions League whipping boys Maccabi Tel Aviv and they passed the test.
Ivanovic explained: “I think this was a very difficult game for us given our position. We came here and we wanted to show our character and we wanted to show how good we are and improve our performances from game to game.
“We've got another clean sheet, which is very important for the confidence of defenders. We had a couple of chances where we could have scored and with a little bit of luck we could win this game.”
