Chelsea boss Antonio Conte hailed their character after victory at Stoke City.

Having earlier conceded a penalty, Gary Cahill fired in an 87th-minute winner at the bet365 Stadium to spark wild celebrations among the Blues' players and staff at a venue where a loss last November dropped them to 16th in the table.

It was not straightforward in Staffordshire - with Willian's free-kick opener cancelled out by Jonathan Walters' spot-kick - but Conte's side emerged with three points due to the type of performance usually associated with champions-in-waiting.

"For sure it was an important win," Conte said.

"It's not easy at this point of the season to come here, to play in Stoke against a strong team also with good qualities and tactical organisation.

"I think we showed a great will to win from the start until the end. I'm very pleased because my players showed me a great will to win but also they were prepared to fight to win this game. It wasn't easy.

"We have played two games away and to win both games is very important in this part of the season. Now there are 10 games to go, I'd like to think that now we need to take 21 points to be sure to win the league but for sure it's an important win."