Ray Wilkins was overjoyed with the side's performance after grinding out an excellent 2-0 home win over Arsenal on Sunday.

The assistant was filling in on media duties for manager Carlo Ancelotti, whose father passed away on Wednesday, and he began by saying a few words on behalf of the Italian.

'Carlo has asked me to come in and do the press conference, he's had an extremely difficult week but he would like to thank everybody that has sent their best wishes' Wilkins said, 'especially the League Managers' Association, he got a very nice text as well from Sir Alex Ferguson which he wanted me to say.'

The side could not have produced a better result to raise their coach's spirits, against an impressive Arsenal side who should have gone ahead early on. Eventually a goal in either half, an excellent flick from Didier Drogba and a crashing free-kick from Alex, ensured the Blues took all three points.

'For us to beat them is always a delight, it's not always pleasant to look at but it was effective and I thought the lads were terrific today,' Wilkins summarised.

'Sometimes when you're playing this wonderful game of ours you can't always do what you want to do. You have to fight and scrap and I think we have that quality to do so. When we do get in the final third we certainly have the quality to finish teams off.

'Arsenal are one of the teams that scare me, they can take the ball off us and not give us it back. That worries me but today we showed great determination. We were good today.

'Today you saw not a fantastic performance but a different performance, we really ground out a win. That's what it's about, the three points is what we fight for and we got it.'

The game will best be remembered for the thunderbolt by our Brazilian centre-back which wrapped the game up with five minutes remaining. He left the field shortly afterwards with an injury.

'Alex has got a slight problem in his thigh, I don't know whether it was from that rocket that he hit late in the game or what but he just has a little knick and we hope he'll be okay.

'It's not a fluke, he hits them after training and works hard at them. I thought Didier would take it personally, but what a goal that was.'

Wilkins was also impressed by Drogba's display, though he admitted he had not had a chance to see his goal again.

'That's what he's all about, that's Didier,' he said. 'He scores goals and loves to be in that situation where he can make a difference.

'We saw him chasing back after 85 minutes, then he goes in at centre-half when Alex comes off. That's what football is all about, filling in for your mate and working for your mates. At the moment we have a spirit in this club we're thrilled about.'

It leaves us four points clear going into the two-week international break, and Wilkins believes it was important to beat one of our title rivals.

'They are important. Last year we beat Man U twice, Arsenal twice, Liverpool twice,' he recalled. 'That might not happen this year, so the teams we lost against last year we have to make up the points against them as well, but thankfully we've taken three off Arsenal once again which is a bonus for us and we'll keep cracking on, but they are vitally important.'

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger thought our first goal should not have counted due to a foul by the all-action Ramires, but admitted we had been better in front of goal.

'The teams are very close, we can give Chelsea credit today, they took advantage up front and were much more clinical than us,' he said.

'I feel sorry for my team, for the fact they are not rewarded, but we live in a realistic world and if you don't take your chances you don't win games.

'We dominated in my opinion but we go home with zero points. You could see Chelsea had finished with cramps because they had to run a lot, so I give a lot of credit to my team but you have to be more clinical to win championships. You cannot lose a game like that.'