Chelsea eased the pressure on Rafa Benitez with a 2-1 victory over Arsenal in a London Derby of the English Premier League, which was the perfect example of a game of two halves.
Juan Mata and Frank Lampard scored the two goals in the first half for Chelsea, before Theo Walcott cut the deficit in the second period; however, Arsenal just could not find the equalizer despite putting on a better second half performance after a woeful first 45.
Chelsea strengthened their grip on third place with the victory and now have 45 points from 23 games, six behind Manchester City and ten adrift of Manchester United, who play Tottenham in the late game.
Arsenal, who remain sixth on 34 points from 22 matches, fell further behind in the chase for a top-four place, and are now in serious jeopardy of finishing outside the Champions League places.
The first half began, under heavy snow, with both teams looking to get on the front foot and get the crucial first goal in a game of such magnitude.
Olivier Giroud, playing as the central striker again with Theo Walcott down on the right, had the chance to give Arsenal the lead, a goal, which could have completely changed the course of the game in the first half.
Santi Cazorla gave the ball to Walcott down the right, who cut inside, and played a nice through ball to Giroud; the Arsenal striker, though, scuffed his shot wide.
Immediately at the other end, Chelsea struck the opening goal under some seriously contentious circumstances. Francis Coquelin was clearly caught by Ramires in the middle of the park, but referee Martin Atkinson, who had a great view of the incident, waved play on, with the ball falling to Mata inside the box from Cesar Azpliciueta.
The Spaniard took one touch to control the ball, and unlike Giroud at the other end, calmly slotted the ball past Wojciech Szczesny in the sixth minute. The goal should never have stood, as Coquelin was clearly fouled, with Arsene Wenger making his feeling clearly known on the touchline.
Cazorla nearly replied with a nice long-range strike from 25 yards, which Petr Cech palmed away.
However, Chelsea were easily the better side in the period, with the Blues constantly creating space on the flanks and inside the box, thanks to some nice movement from their three playmakers - Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar.
The home side doubled their lead in the 16th minute, with Arsenal again giving away a penalty in a big game for the second consecutive week. Ramires robbed Abou Diaby off the ball in the middle of the park, which allowed Chelsea to launch a quick attack, with the ball eventually falling to the Brazilian in space inside the box.
The midfielder took a touch to get past the advancing Szczesny, but went down under the goalkeeper's challenge. It was a soft penalty, with Ramires as much as falling into the Arsenal man even if there was contact, and could really have gone either way, but as is the case with Arsenal in the recent past, the big decision went against them.
Lampard, who else, stepped up to take the spotkick, and expectedly made absolutely no mistake, sending Szczesny the wrong way. That goal took Lampard to within seven of Bobby Tambling's all-time record for Chelsea.
After the second goal, when good teams would have replied with a strong effort, it went the other way, with Chelsea utterly and completely dominating the away side. The first half was reminiscent of Arsenal away game at Old Trafford against Manchester United earlier this season, with the team in sixes-and-sevens, and left clueless with the movement and pace of their opponents.
Chelsea at times made Arsenal look like a mid-table team, at best, as the home side put them to the sword, despite not creating too many open chances.
Arsenal just about clung on to the 2-0 deficit at the end of the first half, with Wenger sure to lay into his side in the dressing room for their abject performance.
The Gunners did come out a transformed side in the second half, taking the game to Chelsea. Walcott had the first opportunity, but struck tamely at Cech, after being put through on goal by a ball over the top.
Giroud then missed a header off a cross from Kieran Gibbs, before Arsenal reduced the deficit. Cazorla played a perfect through ball to Walcott, who timed his run perfectly, before taking his chance brilliantly, much to the away fans' delight, just before the hour.
It confounds the mind why Arsenal could not play like this in the first period, with the away team huffing and puffing and trying to break a nervous-looking Chelsea house down, while the home side were happy to try and hit their opponents on the counter.
Demba Ba had the best opportunity to make the game safe, a minute after coming on with ten minutes remaining. The Sengalese ran free from the Arsenal defense, with Szczesny strangely coming out of his box to thwart the striker down the right. Ba easily bypassed the Arsenal goalkeeper, but Thomas Vermaelen made a brilliant goalline clearance.
The final few minutes saw Arsenal press seriously hard for the equalizer, with Giroud and Walcott coming close, but Chelsea did just enough to take all three points, which on the balance of play in the first half, they just about deserved.
For Arsenal, though, it is another unconvincing performance and another disappointing result against one of their rivals.
Man of the match: Ramires