Mauricio Pochettino says critics are "wrong" to mock Chelsea's struggles against nine men and that Nicolas Jackson's hat-trick will prove the turning point.
The 22-year-old striker scored the all-important 75th minute goal which put Chelsea ahead against Tottenham, despite Ange Postecoglou's side defending valiantly down two players.
Jackson went on to score a treble with Cole Palmer earlier scoring a penalty after Cristian Romero's red-card tackle in the box on Enzo Fernandez.
Dejan Kulusevski had opened the scoring but Tottenham's good start was heavily impacted by the dismissals of Romero and Destiny Udogie in a tempestuous London derby.
Asked whether Chelsea should have put Spurs away sooner, Pochettino said: "I think you are wrong. If you watch Tottenham versus Liverpool, they (Spurs) scored in the last minute.
"It's never easy [against a team with] two players sent off. It's difficult now to talk about tactics but most important is the 4-1 win and three points.
"I think we deserved to win. We forced them to make too many mistakes. Tottenham was better in the first 15 minutes and then I think we bossed the game, our performance was good and forced them into making mistakes.
"If you look at everything you could see during the game, I think it was fair. It could be an important three points for us, to help us now start to push up the table."
Jackson doubled his season tally in a single match but looked nervy before his first goal, missing a host of simple chances.
Pochettino hopes the striker eased both the pressure on himself and Chelsea as a whole, adding: "I am happy for him because we know that when strikers don’t score, they suffer.
"So that is for people to think. He is really young, arrived to the club this summer, and it’s not easy to play for Chelsea. It’s the history, about winning, lifting trophies.
"That’s why as a coaching staff we need to provide the tools and be calm with the way we assess things. The confidence is there and I am so happy for him because he deserves the boost."
