Chelsea are back at the top of the league - for now as they humbled Stoke Ciry 3-0 at the Bridge.
Mohamed Salah, Frank Lampard and Willian put the smiles back on the faces of the Chelsea faithful after a woeful week they will want to forget.
Last Saturday's loss to Crystal Palace and the humbling in Paris in midweek, in the Champions League had meant that this was a must-win match to get both competitions back in track.
The Blues face Paris St Germain on Tuesday in the second leg of the quarter-final at The Bridge, and they need to win by at least two goals.
The three they scored here will be a major fillip for that night's sure to be tense encounter.
Eden Hazard was plonked on the bench by Jose Mourinho, the first time since October 6 when the west Londoners faced Norwich City that the midfielder was dropped from the starting line-up.
After the initial flurry of activity from the away side, the Blues started to take control of the ball. Fernando Torres saw a right-footed right-footer flash just wide of Asmir Begovi's left post on nine minutes
Then Branislav Ivanovic had a close-range header inch wide of the same upright, two minutes later.
It's these half-chances that has, all season, irritated Jose Mourinho - the inability to score killer goals early on in the game.
Willian, on 19 minutes, forced Begovic into a smart save tipping the Brazilian's curler from the edge of the penalty area, around the post for a corner. Ivanovic followed this up a minute later with a curled effort of his own which, whole wide of goal, had Begovic well beaten.
Chelsea's dominate of possession almost reaped Edwards when a poor chest pass back to Begovic by Erik Peters allowed Torres to sneak in on goal, but rather than hitting the ball first time, he tried to round Begovic, an action with failed miserably, as the goalkeeper snaffled the ball from Torres's foot.
The breakthrough when it came on 31 minutes was overdue.
A throw-in by Cesar Azpilicueta on the left went to Nemanja Matic, he fended off Peter Odemwingie before sending in a low rasping low drive. At the end of it was Mohamed Salah and the Egypt wide man smashed home first time with a venomous left-footed that zipped off Begovic's foot and nestled into the top of the Stoke net.
Chelsea thought they had doubled their lead with three minutes to the break, but Ivanovic was a tad offside after his bullet header crashed home from a Lampard cross.
Ex-Blue and now Stoke City manager Mark Hughes decided to bring on Andy Wilkinson and Charlie Adam for Geoff Cameron and Wilson Palacios at half-time.
Jose Mourinho took 11 minutes of a lacklustre second half before deciding to,make changes in the Chelsea ranks.
Eden Hazard entered the fray at the expense of Andre Schurrle.
Wilkinson's first contribution on 60 minutes was to hack down Hazard in the penalty area.
Up stepped Frank Lampard to take the spot kick. However it was saved by Begovoc, diving to his left, but Lampard raced up to ram home the loose ball from six yards.
It was Lampard's second goal of the calendar year.
Stoke's first foray into enemy territory saw Marko Arnautovic attempt to closet rap a long ball by Adam. However all the forward did was to tap the ball to a grateful Cech.
Lampard, off the pace for much of the game, giving away three needless free-kicks was replaced by David Luiz with 20 minutes of the match remaining.
Two minutes later and the Blues were home and hosed with a third goal.
A not so quick counter attack saw Hazard pass to Salah who in turn gave the ball to Willian.
Stoke players inexplicably backed off. Leaving the Brazilian the time and space to curl the perfect right-footer from just left of centre at the edge of the Stoke penalty area past the desperate dive of Begovic and onto his top left hand corner of the net.
With 13 minutes to go, Mourinho reintroduced Ashley Cole to the side after a month on the injury sidelines, bringing him on for William, but playing him in a left-sided midfield position. not his customary left back slot, that remaining firmly with Cesar Azpilicueta.
Cole did his bit, as did the rest of the players and they ran down the time.
The Blues are now one point ahead of Liverpool, who play West Ham tomorrow but the Blues have played one game more than their Scouser rivals.
Teams:
Chelsea, Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Lampard, Matic; Schurrle, Willian, Salah, Torres.
Subs: Schwarzer, Kalas, Cole, David Luiz, Oscar, Hazard, Ba.
Stoke City: Begivic; Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Pieters; Odemwingie, Whelan, Palacios, Nzonzi, Arnautovic; Crouch
Subs, Sorensen, Muniesa, Adam, Walters, Guidetti, Etherington, Wilkinson
Referee, Lee Probert