Tottenham striker Mido left the pitch almost in tears as Chelsea made the most of his first-half dismissal to strengthen their position at the top of the table, with Asier del Horno and Damien Duff both on target in a 2-0 win.
Del Horno recovered from the forearm blow to his head that led to Mido's 24th-minute dismissal to put Chelsea ahead just before the break - with a header.
The Blues doubled their advantage with 20 minutes left when Duff mis-hit a shot into the ground and saw the ball rebound rather fortuitously into the net, apparently off his arm.
Spurs, who started the afternoon in second place, had created the early running, with Mido shooting wide, Michael Dawson flicking a header just past the upright and Jermain Defoe's snapshot flying straight into Petr Cech's arms.
Then again, the most interesting aspect was still the heavyweight central midfield battle between Edgar Davids and Michael Carrick up against Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Claude Makelele.
Indeed, Essien was fortunate that John Terry's covering presence saved him from a red card on 20 minutes when he tripped Davids on the edge of the penalty area, with the Dutchman bearing down on goal.
However, although Terry then headed a corner wastefully wide, Spurs' fortunes started to nosedive when Mido was dismissed following his clash with del Horno as he led with his forearm into a challenge.
That sparked a pushing match between a host of players as Mido, who seemed to be close to tears, took time to leave the pitch and Terry earned himself a booking.
Seven minutes before the interval, Lampard delivered an inviting cross for del Horno to power his header past Robinson, against whom he also scored for Spain against England last November in Madrid.
Although Spurs won a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area just before the break, Cech dived full-length to push Carrick's shot around the post before grasping the ensuing corner.
Spurs boss Martin Jol replaced Teemu Tainio with Aaron Lennon at the break and the young winger was immediately involved, firing one shot over the bar and then tripping as he tried to race past Terry on an exciting run.
However, Mourinho had rather more options than Spurs on the bench, with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Hernan Crespo both introduced, with the Argentina striker almost scoring just seconds later, only to be denied by Robinson.
Although Chelsea have perfected the 1-0 victory, this time they doubled their lead, albeit rather fortunately when Duff met Wright-Phillips' cross with a mishit effort that bounced into the net, seemingly off his arm.
Robinson denied Crespo again in the final stages, but the result was beyond any doubt. Chelsea's title challenge is looking stronger than ever.
