The Blues recovered from their FA Cup final defeat to claim a London derby victory with first-half goals from Enzo Fernández and Andrey Santos.
Chelsea had played 90 minutes at Wembley just three days earlier in the 1-0 FA Cup final loss to Manchester City, and the physical toll of that match was evident. McFarlane acknowledged the challenge of turning around so quickly but paid tribute to the crowd for compensating where tired bodies could not.
"I thought the atmosphere was exceptional tonight. I thought you could feel the energy. I thought it was exceptional at Wembley as well, and I think it always helps the team when we get that positive energy.
"It drives us on to do more. There were lads out there tonight that were dead on their feet, but the crowd, the enthusiasm and the drive from the crowd drives them on to push a little bit extra, and I thought that was clear tonight."
Fernández opened the scoring with a fine strike before Santos doubled the advantage early in the second half. Tottenham pulled one back as their superior freshness told toward the end — the north London side had the full week to prepare — but Chelsea defended resolutely to hold on.
McFarlane was candid about the limitations of his side's performance.
"It was obvious from minute one that we didn't at times have the energy and the intensity that we needed. We had it in patches. It was always going to be tough with the turnaround from the cup final. With the physical and psychological load that put on us, we knew that was going to be the case.
"I thought we played some really nice stuff in the first half, thought we deserved the two-goal lead when we got it, and then it was about when Spurs obviously showed more energy. They had more time to prepare for the game, more rest. You could tell that was coming and we just needed to dig in for the result."
The win keeps Chelsea in contention for European football heading into the final round of fixtures. They face Sunderland on Sunday.