Jose Mourinho has refused to criticize John Terry after the Blues skipper's second half red card almost saw Chelsea drop valuable points against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Chelsea were leading 3-1 and looking comfortable when Terry was dismissed in the 54th minute of the contest.

West Brom managed to get a goal back through James Morrison just five minutes later and gave the defending Premier League Champions a few nervous moments in the final stages of the contest, before ultimately falling to a 3-2 defeat.

Rather than lay blame on Terry for putting his teammates under pressure, Mourinho opted to praise his players for the resilience they showed while shorthanded.

"No, I don't blame John. It's a ball into space behind the full-back, who is pressing high. The striker makes a movement and then the referee decides it is a red card," Mourinho said.

"I don't want to make anything of the decision. If I speak about that I have to speak about many other things in the game.

"I prefer to concentrate on us. It was a fantastic performance. A 3-1 win was less than we deserved with 11 against 11. Then, with one player less, and we are getting experience of that, we adapted well.

"With 10 men, the spirit, organisation, fight and intelligence to keep the ball away from dangerous areas was superb. We are happy."