Arsenal were 1-0 winners over struggling Newcastle United thanks to a moment of Mesut Ozil magic.
The mercurial German's brilliant 23rd-minute volley settled matters at the Emirates Stadium, to lift the Gunners up to fourth.
Having taken just two points from their last three games, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger could not have wished for a better game in which to register a first Premier League win of the month.
But the performance in a tight 1-0 victory over the Magpies was met with incredulity from pockets of the home fans, with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and the recalled Alexandre Lacazette struggling to make an impact once again.
Newcastle are without a league victory since October 21 and their slide into the relegation battle continued despite a determined showing here, with profligate finishing their main issue.
Stoke slumped to a fifth defeat in six to heap further pressure on Mark Hughes as West Ham's Marko Arnautovic came back to haunt his old club in a 3-0 win.
Chants of "Hughes Out" and "sacked in the morning" were heard from home supporters at the bet365 Stadium, where kick-off had been delayed by an hour due to a power cut.
Once proceedings got under way, David Moyes' West Ham were sent on their way by a controversially-awarded Mark Noble penalty, which could result in retrospective punishment for Manuel Lanzini after he appeared to dive, and Hughes' mood was darkened further by goals from Arnautovic and substitute Diafra Sakho.
It was particularly galling for Hughes that Arnautovic got on score-sheet given he was booed throughout having forced through a £25million summer move to the Hammers, who moved above the Potters in the table with this win.
A missed penalty by Glenn Murray was the key moment of a goalless draw between Brighton and Burnley.
Murray was deemed to have been felled by James Tarkowski in the 36th minute but Murray sent the resulting spot-kick well over the bar.
Huddersfield ended their away drought in style, beating Watford 4-1 in a game where referee Michael Oliver took centre stage.
The Terriers had not scored an away goal since the opening day of the season but Elias Kachunga, who was later carried off after suffering an apparently serious injury, gave them the lead only six minutes in.
Aaron Mooy doubled their advantage in the 23rd minute and their grip on the game tightened when Watford striker Troy Deeney was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
The game appeared over when Laurent Depoitre made it 3-0 five minutes after half-time but Huddersfield were controversially reduced to 10 men when Jonathan Hogg was shown a second yellow just past the hour mark.
Abdoulaye Doucoure pulled one back shortly afterwards but that was where Watford's comeback ended and Mooy's 89th-minute penalty gave Huddersfield the final word.
Full-time: Chelsea 1-0 Southampton 🙌
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 16, 2017
A well-earned three points at the Bridge! #CHESOU pic.twitter.com/4R4sEqIJzE
Chelsea consolidated third place with a 1-0 win over Southampton at Stamford Bridge thanks to a sweet Marcos Alonso strike.
Alonso scored the only goal of the game by curling a long-range free kick past goalkeeper Fraser Forster and into the bottom corner in the third minute of first-half injury time.
Christian Benteke secured some redemption as Crystal Palace climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-0 win at Leicester.
A week after defying manager Roy Hodgson's orders to take - and miss - a penalty, Benteke netted the opener in the 19th minute before Wilfried Zaha doubled the advantage prior to half-time.
Things got worse for Leicester when birthday boy Wilfried Ndidi was shown a second yellow card for a dive and Bakary Sako scored an injury-time third on the break.
Having lost their opening seven league games, Palace are now unbeaten in seven.
