Chelsea stopped the rot by beating nine-man Arsenal 2-0 in a fiery encounter at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
Defender Gabriel picked up two yellow cards in as many minutes following a melee with Diego Costa on the stroke of half time to give the Gunners an uphill task.
Kurt Zouma then opened the scoring early in the second half, before Santi Cazorla picked up a second yellow in the final 10 minutes, just when the visitors began to get on top.
The Blues killed off Arsenal's slim hopes of a potential point when Eden Hazard's volley was deflected home by second-half substitute Calum Chambers in the dying minutes.
Here, Sports Mole analyses how the heated encounter in West London was won.
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Match statistics
CHELSEA
Shots: 22
On target: 7
Possession: 63%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 12
ARSENAL
Shots: 9
On target: 2
Possession: 37%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 11
Was the result fair?
In a word, yes. Arsenal and Arsene Wenger will be furious over the way in which they lost, and it is understandable, but the Gunners fell for Costa's tricks and paid the penalty. The Chelsea striker has been in England long enough to have acquired a certain reputation and Gabriel should have known to steer well clear of his petty, yet effective, jibes. The first red card changed the game and the Blues, albeit wasteful, were utterly dominant.
Chelsea's performance
Wenger could have justifiably been the "voyeur" that arch-rival Jose Mourinho suggested he was in 2005. Chelsea were the only team to watch this afternoon. Despite a few scares, centre-back pairing Gary Cahill and Zouma soon negated the pace of Theo Walcott, while right-back Branislav Ivanovic got to grips with the tricky Alexis Sanchez.
A relatively dull first half exploded into life when Costa man-handled Laurent Koscielny, before he and Gabriel became embroiled in a physical and verbal scrap which resulted in the Brazilian defender being sent off. It was an incident in which Costa certainly emerged the worse in terms of public perception, but he will care little.
After moving ahead through Zouma, Chelsea still seemed to lack the killer instinct to put the clash to bed. They finally did in the closing stages, albeit with a slice of luck, and Mourinho will be wary of the possibility that this win merely papered over the cracks. Nothing could separate both teams until the dismissal, and even then it was far more labourous for the hosts than it should have been.
Arsenal's performance
The speed of Walcott caused one or two problems early on but that was it. The England forward barely had a sniff in front of goal for the entire 90 minutes. The arrival of Olivier Giroud, at 1-0 down, restored a sense of optimism that an unlikely point was on the table. The away fans did their bit by singing his name to the tune of Hey Jude. What he needed was help.
The French striker looked isolated as the visitors' focal point, and his presence was rendered effectively pointless when the already-booked Cazorla lunged in on Cesc Fabregas to put Arsenal down to nine men. That incident summed up the Gunners' lack of discipline on the day. They were their own worst enemy, and Wenger will be extra furious given the fact that the result could have gone either way prior to Gabriel's naivety.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Kurt Zouma: Completely vindicated Mourinho's decision to play him instead of John Terry with an excellent performance at both ends of the field. On this evidence, Terry could be waiting a while to get his place back.
Biggest gaffe
Gabriel and Cazorla are both prime candidates, but it has to be the Brazilian, who was naive enough to get embroiled in a confrontation with Costa - one of the Premier League's great wind-up merchants - and he paid the price.
Referee performance
Mike Dean was right to send off Gabriel, but the incident would not have occurred had he dismissed Costa for the earlier offence on Koscielny. It was an error from the veteran official and, on reflection, he may privately admit as much.
What next?
Chelsea: It is League Cup action now for the Blues as the defending champions travel to Walsall on Wednesday night.
Arsenal: Wenger and co gear up for another London derby; this time a lot more local as they face Tottenham Hotspur away in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.
Shane Callaghan
