Norwich boss David Wagner said he had the feeling his team wanted the derby victory more following the Canaries’ 1-0 defeat of the Blues at Carrow Road.
Marcelino Nunez’s 39th-minute goal proved decisive as Town suffered yet another disappointment in the East Anglian derby.
"I’ve said in the past after our home games that the atmosphere was great or fantastic, this was not the truth,” Wagner said. "Today it was fantastic and great.
"Today it was outstanding, the best since I’m here in charge and everyone has seen what kind of a big influence this has on the big tackles and the 50/50 challenges where, at the end of the day, my players were better.
"I had the feeling they wanted it more, especially in the 50/50 challenges. The workload that they put into the shift, the fighting spirit, the attitude was unbelievable, top class as well.
"They’ve beaten the league leaders, your biggest rivals, deserved from my point of view because we had the clearer-cut chances, second half especially on the counter we were a real threat.
"It took until [Conor] Chaplin’s cutback situation until they had the first chance, a team which has scored so many goals this season.
"To still be in the game and be calm and do your job after they made their super-strength substitutions, which they always have done, was top class.
"A top performance. The only thing was that we should have killed the game earlier. This is maybe something that we can criticise if we like to, but to be fair I don’t like to criticise anything today.
"We said this before, today it’s about us, it’s a league leader, yes they are offensively top-class, playing good football, but let’s make sure it’s about us, about how we play the game, how we approach the game and it’s about us - we need points as well, we have targets as well and this is what the players wanted to show.
"To be fair, there was a big belief in the dressing room before kick-off and to bounce back after not a good performance against Leicester [as they lost 3-1 on Monday] in this manner is top class. A great afternoon.”
Regarding the incidents in the first half where Axel Tuanzebe was penalised and booked following a challenge with Josh Sargent and one where Sam Morsy wasn’t, both just outside the penalty area, Wagner said: "The first one, first half, I’m not quite sure if this was a foul.
"Second half, for me it was a crystal clear penalty and a red card. This is how I’ve seen it from my perspective but I know the referee has a different angle, a different view. I’m not sure if I’m right, but this is how I’ve seen it. But, to be fair, I think the referee has done in general, apart from these two situations, which I’ve seen different, but I haven’t seen it back, I think the referee has done a very good job.”