PETR Cech says caretaker boss Roberto Di Matteo should take credit for lifting the spirits of players and fans alike at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian, styled 'interim first team coach' until the end of the season, stepped up from his job as assistant boss following the sacking of dour technician Andre Villas-Boas .

Since then, Chelsea have gone on a run of four wins in four games, and have coursed into the semi finals of the FA Cup an quarter finals of the Champions League.

Cech said: “He (Di Matteo) understood quickly what he had in the team and he is Chelsea through and through.

“He is a Chelsea legend and you can see the reception he gets around here – it makes a difference. The atmosphere at the stadium is a lot more positive. When you get results, the mood around the camp changes.

“The important (win) was the first one when we won the replay against Birmingham. That gave us confidence and got us through to the next round of the FA Cup.

“We followed it up by beating Stoke and we had two consecutive clean sheets. It gave us more confidence and obviously we wanted to show that we could play better than we were doing before.

"You can see everybody is trying to change things around and suddenly we’re getting a bit of luck as well.”  

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