Chelsea's Dutch winger Arjen Robben netted a goal of exquisite quality to defeat a rugged, combative Everton.
Second and third locked horns at Stamford Bridge and it required something special to break the deadlock and Robben provided the goods.
With the minutes ticking away and a 0-0 scoreline looking the surest bet, Chelsea won possession back on their own byline on 72 minutes.
Within a blink of an eye Paulo Ferreira fed the ball to Mateja Kezman who angled a pass towards Eidur Gudjohnsen, all the time the ball moving forward.
The Icelandic striker bisected the Everton rearguard to set loose Robben from the halfway line.
The Dutchman arrowed in towards goal - making the penalty area. He took one more stride and, on the apex of the Everton's six-yard box he scooped the ball delicately over the body of the advancing Nigel Martyn and into the far corner of the net.
The Stamford Bridge faithful exploded with sheer delight and not some relief.
Everton, for their part can feel slightly aggrieved that they did not take a least a point.
Twice they had point-blank efforts on goal, twice Petr Cech, Chelsea's goalkeeper, kept the Toffeemen at bay.
Both chances fell to Australian Tim Cahill, the first came on 19 minutes. An excellent left-wing cross from Kevin Kilbane picked out Cahill on the Chelsea six-yard line.
The former Millwall man was unmarked as he headed towards goal, but the agile Cech produced a marvellous low, diving save.
Everton's second chance also fell to Cahill seconds after Chelsea took the lead and was a carbon copy of the first with Cech again the equal to the Aussie's powerful header.
But that was the nearest Everton came to scoring as Chelsea bossed a large chunk of the game.
Everton started the better, hoping to force Chelsea to concede an early goal, but once the Londoners took the sting out of the Everton attack, they commanded the match.
Everton boss David Moyes said that he would proverbially park two busses in front of his goal and this he did, but there was more subtly to his tactics than just this.
Chelsea knew this would be the case and moved the ball around the pitch with consummate ease, hoping to find a chink of light through the Everton defence.
On 23 minutes Chelsea could be forgiven in thinking that it was going to be one of those games when they would not score.
Former England goalkeeper Martyn produced a wonder save from livewire Robben.
The Dutchman somehow kept possession just outside the Everton penalty area and unleashed a marvellous left-footer towards goal.
Veteran keeper Martyn acrobatically tipped the ball upwards and it flicked off the crossbar for a corner.
Chelsea forged 16 corners in the game, but the tall Everton defence handled the dead-ball situations admirably.
Jose Mourinho, sensing that the time was coming to do something a bit special in order to win the game and their title credentials intact, brought on their fourth front man Kezman on 58 minutes to link with Robben, Damien Duff and Gudjohnsen.
It needed something other than a set-piece to dismantle Everton's defence and that came from the extraordinary Robben 14 minutes later.
Everton - the surprise package so far in the Premiership suffered their first away defeat of the season as a result of Robben's goal.
Chelsea took top spot and the pressure was on Arsenal to respond against Crystal Palace.
Man of the Match: Arjen Robben – The Dutchman's lightning pace, subtle control and maturity marked him out as the difference between the two sides and he scored another goal of exquisite quality.