Jose Mourinho and Manchester United were fortunate to escape Stamford Bridge with just a single-goal defeat to Chelsea, according to Pat Nevin.
The Premier League champions headed into Sunday's clash off the back of a tough start to the season, but Antonio Conte's Blues impressed to seal a 1-0 victory courtesy of an Alvaro Morata header.
United had chances to equalise late on through Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellaini, but former Chelsea winger Nevin believes Conte's title holders were well worth their win after recovering from a Champions League setback against Roma in the run-up to the battle at the Bridge.
"The Chelsea spirit we have grown used to had been conspicuous by its absence of late, maybe in the second half over in Rome it was more obvious than at any other time and it was confounding," he wrote in his column for Chelsea's official website.
"Fortunately every scintilla of this squad’s spirit was right there and in your face from the first minute on Sunday against Manchester United, and a rather large communal sigh of relief was exhaled all round.
"The tactics were perfectly fine too, the boss seeing that a 3-5-1-1 would be a more stable structure at this precise moment. The return to form and to availability of a few big names doubtless helped in the mix as well and the group dynamic was, well dynamic.
"For all that you still needed to see the desire, the spirit and willingness to put every effort into every challenge and every run if we were going to see off United, and the lads certainly showed that.
"It was all there and it was just too much for Jose’s men to deal with, 1-0 was a very flattering score for them I felt.
"If we show the same spirit going forward then any concerns about qualification from our Champions League group stage will disappear very quickly and the battle to stay at least in the top four in the Premier League will also be a foregone conclusion."
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The victory saw Chelsea climb to fourth in the table heading into the international break, sitting nine points behind pace-setters Manchester City after 11 games.