Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho hailed his teams' spirit in hard fought 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the Premiership on Wednesday.

"Around the world you can’t see many teams fighting like my team did tonight. You don’t see big stars fighting like this," Mourinho was quoted as saying by Chelsea's official website on Wednesday.

Joe Cole's goal 11 minutes from time ensured Chelsea's seventh successive Premiership win since losing to Manchester United in November.

The title holders are leading the Premiership race with 52 points, 11 clear of United who were held to a 2-2 draw by Birmingham.

Mourinho insisted it was the group effort behind the Blues’ impressive results and not owner Roman Abramovich’s money.

"This is not the power of the money, this is the power of the group. This is the power of a group of friends working together," he said.

The Portuguese coach said his side coped very well in the absence of midfielder Frank Lampard, whose record 164 consecutive league game starts came to a halt due to illness.

"It was a big test from the mental point of view to play without Frank because we play all those games with him and ten minutes before you realize he is not playing," he said.

Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen replaced Lampard ten minutes before kick-off.

"The answer of the team was magnificent. Eidur Gudjohnsen individually played a very good game in the Lampard role," he added.

Mourinho admitted that a draw would have been a satisfying result following City's fine display.

"These are the matches you know one point is a result. It is important for the players not to panic, keep control of the game and don’t make defensive mistakes," the former Porto coach said.

"If we don’t score a goal, a point in these circumstances would be a positive point," he added.