Nemanja Matic has revealed how José Mourinho's meticulous preparation enabled Chelsea to beat Manchester City, with the midfielder pointing to the film of Manuel Pellegrini's side the manager showed his players.

"We prepared very good, the coach showed us some videos of Manchester City and of course they were the right videos to show the quality but also where they make mistakes," said the midfielder, who made his full debut in the 1-0 win after his £20.75m move from Benfica. "We cannot say what [exactly] we prepared because it is only for us, but the preparation was very good and a big quality.

"To play in a game like this he [Mourinho] prepared us very good, like you saw on the pitch. Everyone knew what they were meant to do which is why we got the result."

Branislav Ivanovic's first-half winner allowed Chelsea to draw level with City on 53 points, with the leaders, Arsenal, two better off.

"We played good football, we played very well and the team was at the top level. We won and we deserved to win," added the 25-year-old Serb. "It was very important for us, we have more confidence after that because it is not easy to play Manchester City. They are strong and they play quickly, but we can prepare against every team. We scored one goal, but we could have scored more. We had great opportunities, and sometimes one goal is enough to win."

Gary Cahill hailed a performance that allowed Chelsea to complete the league double over City this season. "I think it was a class performance," said the central defender. "I think they started bright – the first 10 to 15 minutes we had to weather the storm a bit. Then we came into the game, and I thought today the work rate of this team was pleasing. We know we've got quality in there. So the work rate was fantastic.

"We managed to get the result we deserved over them. We hit the woodwork three times, we created chances, we had a lot of possession. So, yes, we go away really happy. We came to a very difficult place, they've been on fire here this season – it's so hard to get points here."