Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hailed his team's fighting qualities after they ground out a 1-0 win at Blackburn.

Mourinho was less than impressed with some of Rovers' tactics with goalscorer Arjen Robben forced off after 11 minutes following a challenge from Aaron Mokoena.

The Chelsea manager said: "It's a big injury but we have other players. He is so special that maybe he was the first target for them."

Petr Cech preserved his record of not conceding a league goal since December 12th with a penalty save from Paul Dickov and his display typified the league leaders' determination.

"We can play good football, we can fight," said Mourinho. "We can fight for points in a game like this - if you can call it a game. I think we can go over every barrier, the spirit was amazing and our players fought a lot.

"We did it without Didier Drogba, our powerful man, then after five minutes we lose our fastest player (Robben). It was difficult for us against a team who had a special attitude. If I was polite I would call it a special attitude.

"The blond boy in the middle (Robbie Savage) made 20 faults and no yellow card. It's difficult to control emotions."

Mourinho also thanked the fans who backed his team on a bleak night in east Lancashire. "They were fantastic, they understood the game," he said. "They came here to see a good game of football. And they understood it was not a great game of football, it was a fight. We came here with a big spirit."

Despite being 11 points clear at the top of the table, Mourinho continues to insist the title is not won yet. "We still have to play Manchester United and Arsenal - they are great teams."

As for the loss of Robben, Mourinho said: "We have other players waiting for chances. We are ready for everything. If we don't have strikers we can play John Terry as a striker and he can score."

Terry, the Chelsea skipper, said: "To go 11 points clear was important. It is a tough place to come. They showed they can fight but we matched them all the way.

"There is still a million miles to go (in the title race) and we've got to keep playing like that. We've shown we can battle and we want to fight."