Samuel Eto'o enjoys his hat-trick in Chelsea's 3-1 win over Manchester United.
Chelsea inflicted a knockout blow on Manchester United's hopes of making a successful defence of the Barclays Premier League and kept their title bid on track with a comprehensive 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Jose Mourinho's side moved two points behind leaders Arsenal after Samuel Eto'o scored a hat-trick - his fourth, fifth and sixth Premier League goals of the season - in a win that keeps United 14 points adrift of the summit.
Perhaps more crucial for David Moyes and United, whose reply came from substitute Javier Hernandez, is the deficit to the Champions League qualification places.
1 Arsenal 51
2 Man City 50
3 Chelsea 49
4 Liverpool 43
5 Tottenham 43
6 Everton 41
7 Man Utd 37
8 Newcastle 36
9 Southampton 31
10 A Villa 24
11 Hull City 23
12 Norwich 23
13 Stoke City 22
14 West Brom 21
15 Swansea 21
16 C Palace 20
17 Fulham 19
18 West Ham 18
19 Sunderland 18
20 Cardiff 18
Seventh-placed United sit six points behind fourth-placed Liverpool and fifth-placed Tottenham with 16 games remaining after seeing their seven-match unbeaten away run end.
A miserable afternoon was compounded for Moyes and United when captain Nemanja Vidic was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Eden Hazard in stoppage time.
Rafael was fortunate not to follow his skipper in being sent off for a two-footed lunge on Gary Cahill.
In the other Super Sunday clash, Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed a brace as Tottenham won 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium to add to Swansea's relegation fears.
The striker headed Spurs into a 35th-minute lead and then tapped in their third after a Chico Flores own goal had doubled the visitors' lead.
Wilfried Bony hit the bar and had a good penalty appeal for a push by Michael Dawson turned down in the first half, before getting Swansea's consolation late on.
The win moves Tottenham up to fifth, level on points with fourth-placed Liverpool as Tim Sherwood, who opted against sticking with a 4-4-2 formation here, remained unbeaten in the Premier League since taking over from Andre Villas-Boas.
Swansea, meanwhile, remain just three points above the relegation zone and their lengthy injury list and the alarming manner in which they faded following Adebayor's opener will be very troubling for manager Michael Laudrup.