Arsenal defeated Chelsea for the first time since February 2004 to reclaim top spot in the Premier League.
Manchester United had moved above them earlier in the day but William Gallas's header after Petr Cech failed to collect a corner ensured a Gunners win.
Shaun Wright-Phillips should have equalised but missed from six yards, while Manuel Almunia saved an Andriy Shevchenko free-kick in injury time.
Robin van Persie missed from 14 yards and was then denied by Cech late on.
Arsenal did not beat Chelsea during Jose Mourinho's entire tenure as Blues manager but have defeated Avram Grant's team at the first attempt.
Chelsea had gone 16 games without defeat in all competitions under Grant but now trail the Gunners by six points and United by five at the top of the league.
As with United's match at Liverpool earlier in the day, it was a tight game with little to choose between the teams.
But Arsenal showed a little more invention and ability on the break than Chelsea, who crucially lost John Terry to a suspected ligament injury after 38 minutes.
Even so, Chelsea should have equalised through Wright-Phillips, who scuffed his shot from six yards after Gallas had diverted a cross into his path midway through the second half.
Arsenal started brightly, their crisp passing and intelligent movement heavily in evidence as the home team looked for an early goal.
They had Cesc Fabregas, Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb back in their line-up but Chelsea, with their five-man midfield, soon ensured that space and time on the ball was at a premium.
And it looked as though the first half would remain goalless before Gallas, playing against his old team, struck in time added on.
Chelsea had lost Terry after he failed to recover from a challenge by Emmanuel Eboue and, without the skipper's commanding presence in the box, Gallas was able to nudge Tal Ben Haim off the ball and convert Fabregas' corner.
But culpability for the goal lay with the normally reliable Cech, who came off his line to clear the corner but failed to make any meaningful contact with the ball.
Brazilian defender Alex had almost gifted Arsenal the lead earlier in the half when he tried to head the ball to Cech but only succeeded in looping it over the keeper and, thankfully for him, narrowly wide of the Chelsea goal.
It was a fractious game with plenty of niggle, two melees and 10 yellow cards.
Possession was surrendered far too cheaply for either team to find any kind of rhythm and for long spells it seemed to suit Chelsea, who forced first-half saves from Almunia with decent long-range strikes from Wright-Phillips and Shevchenko.
Almunia dived sharply to his right to prevent Obi from scoring his first goal of the season in the second half, while Wright-Phillips's horrible miss was a real let-off for the home team.
The game became increasingly stretched as Chelsea searched for an equaliser and Arsenal cut them open with a precise break that substitute Van Persie was unable to finish from 14 yards.
Van Persie had the ball in the net after another break but the goal was ruled out for offside and later saw another effort saved by Cech, who then denied Fabregas with a follow-up.
Shevchenko had a late chance for Chelsea with a free-kick but Almunia tipped the effort over his bar.
The final action saw Arsenal waste another chance on the break and Fabregas booked for a tackle on Ashley Cole, who was booed throughout the afternoon on his return to his former club.
Lineups:
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia; Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, William Gallas, Gael Clichy; Emmanuel Eboue, Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb; Emmanuel Adebayor
Chelsea: Petr Cech; Paolo Ferreira, John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole; Mikel John Obi, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips; Joe Cole, Andriy Shevchenko
a 4-5-1 formation, with Alex Hleb playing just off of lone striker Emmanuel Adebayor as a not-yet-match-fit Robin van Persie watched from the bench until the 70th minute.
Chelsea, unlike the Gunners, were missing top scorer Didier Drogba and fellow African Michael Essien, and therefore played with Joe Cole partnering Andriy Shevchenko in an offensive 4-4-2 which Avram Grant had hoped would bring some beautiful flowing football to Chelsea's game.
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue (Van Persie 69), Flamini, Fabregas, Rosicky, Hleb (Silva 77), Adebayor (Bendtner 90).
Subs Not Used: Lehmann, Senderos.
Booked: Adebayor, Eboue, Flamini, Toure, Fabregas.
Goals: Gallas 45.
Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Alex, Terry (Ben-Haim 38), Ashley Cole, Wright-Phillips (Kalou 75), Obi, Makelele (Pizarro 65), Lampard, Joe Cole, Shevchenko.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Belletti.
Booked: Terry, Lampard, Joe Cole, Ben-Haim, Obi.
Att: 60,139
Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).CHELSEA have been rocked by the news that John Terry has been ruled out for up to two months.
Doctors today confirmed that the England skipper has broken three bones in his right foot, including a metatarsal.
That is not just a blow for Blues boss Avram Grant, who now has to get their season back on track without his influential captain.
It also means Terry may well have to sit out Fabio Capello's first game in charge as England manager.
CRUNCH ... Eboue and Terry collide
The defender hobbled off during Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal after being injured in a challenge by Emmanuel Eboue.
X-rays have shown that Terry has broken the third metatarsal in his right foot, which is understood to be as bad as it can get.
A close friend said: "The doctors were surprised as they said it's very unusual to break that third metatarsal.
"It's more common for footballers to break the first or fifth metatarsal.
"The bad news is they say it will take longer to heal than normal.
Chelsea were not expecting such devastating news as an initial scan had failed to show the true extent of the damage.
Club doctor Bryan English said: "An X-ray taken in the Arsenal medical room straight after John left the field didn't show the injury.
"However, as is usual with mid-foot injuries, the fractures were revealed following scans, which were performed this afternoon.
"John will start his rehabilitation immediately with the Chelsea medical team and we will continue to monitor the injury."
Capello, who was unveiled as new England manager today, will make his Wembley bow with a friendly on February 6 against Switzerland.
But doctors believe that could come too soon for Terry to have recovered fully.
The third metatarsal bones are in the middle toe, which normally suffer injury through wear and tear rather than a clean break.
Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have broken fifth metatarsals before and took at least six weeks LONGER for both players to get back into action than specialists originally predicted.
In 2004, Scott Parker broke a second metatarsal and although an eight-week absence was predicted, it was 34 weeks before he made a return.
After yesterday's game, Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou revealed that Eboue had apologised to Terry for the tackle.
He said: “I was saying to Eboue that it was a red card because he did it on purpose - but he denied that.
“He said he tried to block the ball and it was not on purpose. He said sorry to John.
"He didn’t mean to do it but to apologise was a nice thing to do. John will be a big loss and is very important to the squad.
"We will miss him and it will be difficult to do it without him but we have the players to do that.”
In February 2007 J0hn Terry was seriously injured
Famous Communicable English Disease
Metatarsal
JOHN TERRY has become the latest England ace to be struck down with the curse of the metatarsal.
Here SunSport looks at the previous Three Lions stars to have fallen foul of the injury and their eventual recovery periods.
April 2002 - DAVID BECKHAM broke his second metatarsal while playing in the Champions League for Manchester United against Deportivo La Coruna. He played at the World Cup three months later but it was clear he was unfit. Predicted: 6 weeks Return: 7 weeks later
April 2002 - Manchester United defender GARY NEVILLE broke his fifth metatarsal against Bayer Leverkusen, also in the Champions League, forcing him to miss the World Cup. Predicted: 6-8 weeks Return: 21 weeks later
May 2002 - DANNY MURPHY was drafted into the World Cup squad but fractured a metatarsal while training. Predicted: 6-8 weeks Return: 21 weeks later
June 2004 - WAYNE ROONEY broke his fifth metatarsal in England's quarter-final clash with Portugal at Euro 2004. Portugal eventually win on penalties. Predicted: 8 weeks Return: 14 weeks later
September 2004 - STEVEN GERRARD broke his fifth metatarsal in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat at Manchester United. Predicted: 6-8 weeks Return: 10 weeks later
December 2004 - SCOTT PARKER fractured his second metatarsal playing for Chelsea. Predicted: 8 weeks Return: 34 weeks later
October 2005 - ASHLEY COLE broke a metatarsal before England's World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Poland. Predicted: 6-8 weeks Return: 12 weeks later
December 2005 - MICHAEL OWEN broke a metatarsal bone in his foot when he collided with England team-mate Paul Robinson during Tottenham's clash with Newcastle at White Hart Lane. Predicted: 6-8 weeks Return: 17 weeks later
April 2006 - Tottenham defender LEDLEY KING damaged his metatarsal playing against Everton and, unlike Rooney, England decided not to risk him for the World Cup Predicted: 6 weeks Return: 8 weeks later
April 2006 - WAYNE ROONEY broke the fourth metatarsal of his right foot after tackle by Paulo Ferreria in league match with Chelsea. Returned in time for World Cup 2006 but lacked match fitness Predicted: 6 weeks Return: 8 weeks
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