A two-goal salvo just before the break and a late Didier Drogba free-kick, his second goal of the game, kept the perfect record against the rest of the 'big four' going.
On a soggy afternoon in north London, Chelsea surrendered plenty of the ball to the home side but when it came high into our box or the shots were unleashed, Terry and Carvalho were a towering presence in recording a fifth straight league clean sheet.
At the other end, Drogba and Anelka were once more quality players, especially with the Blues relying heavily on counter-attack.
It was Drogba who opened the scoring four minutes before the interval, finishing from close range via the woodwork, and he was the player pressuring Vermaelen when the Arsenal centre-back turned the ball into his own net to make it 2-0. Ashley Cole to the home fans' disgust had a big hand in both.
The killer free-kick made it 3-0 on 86 minutes with Chelsea finishing strongly against a demoralised home team and support. Arsenal are now 11 points off our top position with a game in hand.
Arsenal v Chelsea
The starting midfield line-up was where Ancelotti had to make his biggest decisions and having been impressed with Mikel's performance in Porto, he kept the Nigerian as the anchor man and brought Essien in instead of Ballack. Lampard returned for Malouda, Joe Cole was preferred to Deco and Zhirkov made way for Ashley Cole in what would prove a significant change to the side.
Chelsea survived the ball bouncing around our area after an Arshavin knock-back in the opening minutes and there was a painful collision on the edge of the area between Essien and Eduardo after the Arsenal striker slid in late. Both continued after treatment.
Mikel was spoken to by referee Marriner after a foul just 10 minutes in. It had not been his first offence.
Arsenal had the upper hand in possession and territory in the first 15 minutes although Song was lucky to get away with a stray pass across the front of his own area that Drogba almost collected.
Then Drogba was very unfortunate to be flagged offside when Joe Cole slipped past Denilson and sent our striker away.
It was not a great start by Chelsea but suddenly the attack snapped into action, Lampard's ball evading the stretching Drogba but it was picked up by Anelka, goalside of Sagna.
Anelka and Sagna meet
The right-back's arm was around the Chelsea striker's waist as he tumbled without getting the shot away. A penalty claim was not an outrageous suggestion but the players made little of it. The ball fell to Lampard who shot wide from distance.
Chelsea earned our first corner on 21 minutes and when it was cleared and chipped back in, Drogba headed down but straight at Alumnia to his visible frustration.
Narsi then shot into the arms of Cech after penetrating the defence at the other end.
Traore was the first booking of the game 25 minutes in. The stand-in left-back had initially taken control after an Ivanovic mistake but then the Chelsea man completely out-powered him and was tugged down on his way towards the Gunners' goal.
On 36 minutes Drogba went into the book when he barged down Vermaelen when trying to press the centre-back. The Ivorian then headed another chance wide after the best Blues move so far, Joe Cole much involved.
Cech was quick off his line to deny Edmilson soon after the Croatian had been slipped through on a one-on-one chase.
Arsenal were not passing at their crispest but they were still a smoother unit in possession than Chelsea, and would have been most neutrals' favourites to find the net first. But then it all suddenly clicked into place for Ancelotti's men.
Terry's contribution in setting the win on its way cannot be underestimated. His left-footed pass inside the Arsenal right-back would have made any midfielder jealous and Ashley Cole, booed as you might imagine throughout, also did superbly, twisting and chipping a ball in that Drogba finished from close range off the underside of the crossbar.
The Blues would have been happy taking that single goal lead into the dressing room given the balance of the half but as stoppage time was about to begin, that same section of crossbar guided a second away goal in, this time after Vermaelen had thighed it towards his own goal. And who had supplied the undefendable cross? Ashley Cole.
Drogba scores
There was still work to do at the back to hold the advantage until the break, Mikel making his best contribution so far in charging down a shot in the box. Already we could be confident of another three points. Despite the amount of ball Arsenal had enjoyed, they had not truly tested Cech.
Wenger made a change for the second half - Walcott on for holding midfielder Song and playing on the right with Nasri moving in behind Eduardo.
Nasri played the lone striker in on goal straight away but Eduardo's touch was awful and the chance ran away. He would soon be replaced.
The Gunners then had the ball in the net through Arshavin after Ivanovic and Cech had initially done well to repel sustained pressure. The 'goal' was disallowed for a challenge by Eduardo on Cech to make the shooting chance for the Russian.
The impetus was with Arsenal, and Terry was once again brilliant with a telling block.
Chelsea were playing on the break with the outstanding Anelka the main outlet. There was a big escape for Arsenal on 63 minutes when Lampard inadvertently chested a Drogba ball on-target but Alumnia tipped it round the post.
Wenger made his final substitution as early as the 65th minute when Rosicky replaced Nasri, Vela having earlier come on for the struggling Eduardo. Two minutes later Deco was a straight swap for Joe Cole.
Vela went down under an Ivanovic challenge just inside the area but the ref wasn't interested. Then Mikel was booked for one foul too many in what had been a better second-half for the Nigerian.
Ashley Cole, appearing to feel something in his thigh, was replaced by Ferreira with just under 20 minutes to go.
There was then a ridiculous moment when Mikel was pushed and kicked by Rosicky when shielding the ball, but was flagged in the wrong by the linesman. Worryingly the Chelsea man had what must have been a final warning by the ref, but he would survive without getting into trouble again.
Drogba, with Traore bouncing off him, speared over a cross that just evaded Anelka and Lampard ran out of space trying to dribble through as Chelsea threatened a third goal.
It was time for the Chelsea fans to wind up William Gallas. 'You should have stayed at a big club' and 'You're not captain anymore' were songs of choice.
Into the final 10 minutes and the feeling was Arsenal's bolt had been shot. Chelsea's hadn't!
An Essien surge was stopped illegally and from 20 yards out, Drogba drilled in a free-kick as perfectly-struck as you could wish to see, Alumina a couple of yards away from getting anything on it.
Drogba celebrates
It was his 14th goal of the season and the winning margin of last season in this fast emptying stadium had been repeated.
In the words of Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea are most definitely in a very good moment.

Chelsea (4-diamond-2): Cech; Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry (c), A Cole (Ferreira 72); Mikel; Essien, Lampard; J Cole (Deco 67); Anelka, Drogba (Malouda 87).
Scorer Drogba 41, 86, Vermaelen o.g. 44.
Booked Drogba 36, Mikel 70.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Traoré; Song (Walcott h-t), Denilson; Arshavin, Fábregas (c), Nasri (Rosicky 65); Eduardo (Vela 56).
Booked Traore 25, Fabregas 90+3.