David Luiz has emphasised Chelsea’s belief in Maurizio Sarri’s philosophy, saying a top-four finish and Europa League title would mark a successful season.

Despite a 12-game unbeaten start to the league, a poor run in the past couple of months led to fans chanting “F--- Sarri-ball” about the manager’s tactics. The unrest reached a peak in the League Cup final defeat by Manchester City, when goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted.

However, three consecutive wins seem to have restored calm. After Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League last-16 first leg, Luiz described the club’s “positive” moment as evidence of the players’ faith.

“It’s a positive mood, the results help a lot. We still believe in what we started at the beginning of the season,” he said.

“The beginning of the season was, ‘Oh, my God, Chelsea is learning very quickly the philosophy of the manager, it’s amazing.’ Then after a few months, ‘Oh, Chelsea didn’t learn anything yet, Sarri-ball is not good enough.’

“For many years, [people] were not happy because Chelsea were winning without playing very good football and now Chelsea is playing very good football and sometimes we don’t win so people are not happy.