Courtois praises Chelsea spirit

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Cesc Fabregas’ 88th-minute winner on Sunday was enough to seal a 1-0 win for Jose Mourinho’s side, who restored their seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, with a game in hand.

The Spaniard’s strike dealt another blow to the fading hopes of their title rivals, with Chelsea in a commanding position ahead of games against Manchester United and Arsenal.

And Courtois believes the Blues will carry that same resilience into Saturday’s clash with United at Stamford Bridge.

“If you want to be champions you need to win those kind of games,” he told Chelsea TV.

“It’s a hard game here at QPR, on a small pitch, it’s dry, it wasn’t easy to play good football so there were a lot of long balls.

‘Important’

“But Didier Drogba did very well, he was so strong and we showed great character to win that game. The games against Manchester United and Arsenal are two important games so it will be very important to win them.

“But after this feeling (against QPR), we have a good feeling to go into the next ones.”

Meanwhile, Courtois’ team-mate Gary Cahill is relishing the challenge of facing their title rivals in the next fortnight.

Sunday’s 4-2 defeat of Manchester City was United’s sixth straight victory in the league while Arsenal have registered eight successive wins since losing to Tottenham in February.

Cahill said: “They’re good games, they’re mouth-watering games and everyone is looking forward to them.

“We’ve chalked another one off against QPR and we’re taking those steps, we want to keep the momentum going next week.

“We’re playing against an in-form Manchester United team but we’re playing at Stamford Bridge and they’re playing against a very good team. It should be a great game.”

Chelsea striker Loic Remy is likely to be available again having missed the win over QPR with a minor calf strain.