Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo was quick to praise the officials of the game against Swansea, which ended 1-1, while admitting his side lacked a cutting edge.

Victor Moses seemed to have given the Blues all three points against the Welsh side, before Pablo Hernandez equalized three minutes from time to ensure a share of the spoils.

Chelsea were under fire from the refereeing community after lodging an official protest against Mark Clattenburg for using "inappropriate language" towards John Obi Mikel in the now infamous 3-2 loss to Manchester United.

However, on Saturday at the Liberty Stadium, in a match that saw no untoward incident, Di Matteo felt the referees did their jobs well. "The officials were very good," the Italian said. "Kevin Friend did very well in the game to keep both teams calm and let the game flow."

Di Matteo admitted to being disappointed at letting Swansea come back and find a late equalizer, a goal which meant Chelsea relinquishing their lead at the top of the table, following Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Arsenal.

"I thought we had a little more of the game and more clear chances than Swansea, and when the opposition equalise late on you always feel it is a bit unlucky, but Swansea scored a quality goal," he said.

"We lacked a little creativity. It is hard to win away in the Premier League and this is only the second game we have drawn, the others we have won. It was just disappointing that we didn't hold on to our lead, sometimes when you are not brilliant you can hang on to a result like that.

"At the back we didn't conceded too much up against their strikers but the one time we did give them space we were punished."

Chelsea were pedestrian going forward for much of the game, clearly missing the excellent playmaking and goalscoring skills of Juan Mata, who was ruled out due to injury. "He is an influential player for us, especially in the form he is in, but Eden Hazard was fantastic for us today and Oscar did well also," Di Matteo added. "The players who played gave everything.

"Hazard has showed all the time this season that he has good technical ability but he also works very hard for the team. He is a team player."

Di Matteo acknowledged tiredness might have played a part in the flat performance. "We certainly felt this week with the two Man United games and extra time," he said. "It is certainly something we look at, and the players in their national squads don't have any rest during the international breaks. We have to try to utilise our squad and make sure we are fresh."

The Italian, however, was not too worried about losing the top spot in the league table, with Chelsea now a point behind United. "It is a long season and it is going to be very tight," he added. "There are going to be a few teams fighting for the top but we are in touch and we are going to show how strong we are in the future."