Diego Costa took his top-flight goal tally for the season to 17 as a crushing 5-0 win at Swansea saw Chelsea extend their lead to five points.
Costa and Oscar each helped themselves to a first-half brace as the hosts made a shocking start to life without £25 million frontman Wilfried Bony.
Oscar robbed Gylfi Sigurdsson after just 50 seconds and fired home from 25 yards. Sigurdsson hit the post from long range, but Costa made it 2-0 after 20 minutes and added another after a blunder by Federico Fernandez just after the half-hour.
Oscar made it 4-0 two minutes later in a half in which Willian also hit woodwork twice. Substitute Andre Schurrle completed the rout after the break.
Louis van Gaal could count himself fortunate after Manchester United's 2-0 win over luckless QPR at Loftus Road. Marouane Fellaini made the breakthrough when he stroked home in the 58th minute. James Wilson added a second in stoppage time.
Jermain Defoe's return to White Hart Lane proved an unhappy one as Christian Eriksen's late finish gave Tottenham a 2-1 win over Sunderland. Jan Vertonghen hit a third-minute opener after a mistake by Santiago Vergini. Sebastian Larsson equalised with a brilliant free-kick on the half-hour, but Eriksen netted from close range three minutes from time.
Liverpool continued their improvement with a 2-0 win at Aston Villa. Fabio Borini opened the scoring with a 20th-minute volley and despite a second-half surge from Villa substitute Rickie Lambert wrapped up the points late on.
A second-half goal from Bojan gave Stoke a hard-fought 1-0 victory at bottom club Leicester. The Potters had the better chances, with Marko Arnautovic hitting the side-netting before Bojan's brilliant finish earned a win they just about deserved.
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