Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea
Guus Hiddink remains unbeaten in his second spell Chelsea manager after the Blues claimed the London derby bragging rights against 10-man Arsenal.
Diego Costa banged in the only goal of the game to seal victory over the Gunners and keep the club’s distant hopes of making the top four alive.
Chelsea started strongly and their task was made all the more easy in north London when Per Mertesacker was sent off in the early stages.
Costa was put clean through on goal and the experienced German international decided to take one for the team and hacked down the striker to deny him a goalscoring opportunity.
Referee Mark Clattenburg was well placed and had no hesitation in whipping out the red card and reducing the home side to 10 men.
Costa, an unpopular character with Arsenal supporters for his antics in the reverse fixture back in September, opened the scoring seconds later by slamming home Branislav Ivanovic’s cross.
Chelsea's derby win over Arsenal in pictures:
Chelsea pushed on for a second but only some outstanding work from former Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech sent Arsenal in just one behind at the interval.
The Gunners showed more of a cutting edge after the restart and somehow failed to score from the mother of all goalmouth scrambles.
However, there was no way through for Arsene Wenger’s side and the travelling Chelsea faithful certainly enjoyed putting a dent in Arsenal’s title hopes.
Chelsea turn their attention to the FA Cup next weekend with a trip to MK Dons.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Zouma, Oscar (Hazard), Mikel, Costa (Remy), Matic, Willian, Terry, Azpilicueta.
Subs (not used): Begovic, Rahman, Traore, Cahill, Loftus-Cheek.
