Nigeria’s Victor Moses outshined his compatriot Alex Iwobi as Chelsea spanked Arsenal 3-1 in the London derby on Saturday.
Courtesy the victory the west London side moved 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
While Moses was in action for only 88 minutes, Iwobi played all 90 minutes but was unable to turn the table against the hosts.
Goals from Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas put the runaway league leaders in complete control of the contest before a late Olivier Giroud header provided scant consolation for the visitors.
Arsenal have now lost on their last five visits to Stamford Bridge, but the visitors almost broke the deadlock inside two minutes when a defensive mix-up between Thibaut Courtois and David Luiz presented Iwobi with a chance, but he fed his shot narrowly past the far post.
The hosts did open the scoring just two minutes later, though, as Marcos Alonso towered over Hector Bellerin to nod a rebound in after Diego Costa had seen a header of his own crash against the crossbar seconds before.
Bellerin suffered a heavy blow in competing for the ball with Alonso, and the Spaniard – who was rested for the midweek defeat to Watford – was forced off as a result of the injury, being replaced by Gabriel Paulista.
Arsene Wenger’s side were unable to level things up before the interval, though, and within eight minutes of the restart they saw the game slip beyond their reach courtesy of a stunning solo effort from Eden Hazard, who collected the ball in his own half and shrugged off the challenge of Francis Coquelin before advancing into the box, beating Laurent Koscielny and firing his finish past Cech.
Any slim hopes the visitors may have had of hauling themselves back into the match evaporated with five minutes remaining when Cech gifted Chelsea a third goal, giving the ball straight to Cesc Fabregas, who lifted the ball over the keeper to cap off the home side’s scoring against his former club just a minute after coming on.