Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti could not hide his delight after the Blues beat their "best opponent" with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues ground out a narrow win, with captain John Terry heading home the only goal in a gritty encounter 14 minutes from the end.

Ancelotti told Sky Sports: "I think it was a difficult match for both teams.

"There was no space in midfield, it was difficult to create an opportunity to score.

"It was a match with very good balance, a strong match and we did what we had to do.

"We beat a very good team, our best opponent."

Despite the win, Ancelotti is not getting carried away and said Chelsea must maintain their current standard if they are to keep United and the other title contenders at bay.

"We are now five points clear but we know very well that the season is long," he said.

"We have to maintain this atmosphere and we hope to maintain this gap."

Captain Terry praised Chelsea's team effort.

Terry said: "Another clean sheet for us today, we talk about the attacking players and midfielders coming back and working hard for the team and that's exactly what we got today.

"(The five-point lead) was exactly what we wanted coming into the game, we've been working on it all week. That wasn't the best of games but I think overall we deserved it."

Nicolas Anelka added: "We played good football and we had some chances but we stayed compact in defence and managed to score one goal.

"It's very good, we wanted to win because we know United are a big rival for the league and it's always good to have five points on top of United."

Terry played down appeals for a first-half penalty to United after his challenge on winger Antonio Valencia, telling Sky Sports 1: "I just got my body in between the ball (and Valencia), I'm glad (Atkinson) didn't give it but I didn't think it was anyway."