Stoke's long unbeaten home run was brought to an abrupt halt as Chelsea chalked up a much-needed victory – with a major helping hand from Jonathan Walters.
The hosts had not lost at the Britannia Stadium in the Barclays Premier League since February and have proved formidable opponents for the league's big hitters, but this was their biggest home loss since returning to the top flight in 2008.
It began to go wrong in first half injury-time when Walters headed powerfully into his own net, and remarkably the striker repeated the trick in the 62nd minute.
Three minutes later Frank Lampard scored a penalty after Juan Mata went down and Eden Hazard rounded off the scoring with a long-range screamer 17 minutes from time.
Walters was given the chance to at least score one goal at the right end when Stoke were awarded a 90th-minute penalty but in keeping with the rest of the striker's day, he could only find the top of the bar.
Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez made the decision to start Demba Ba in his first Premier League appearance for the club, with Fernando Torres on the bench.
Defender Gary Cahill was absent to be at the birth of his son so David Luiz dropped back into defence alongside Branislav Ivanovic.
Lampard started while captain John Terry was on the bench for the first time since sustaining knee ligament damage two months ago.
Benitez, not for the first time, came into the match under fire from the Chelsea fans following defeats to Swansea in midweek and to QPR in their last league game, but they began positively and only a well-timed tackle from Ryan Shawcross prevented Ramires getting a shot away.
Ramires got in a timely block of his own at the other end and the ball fell to Kenwyne Jones on the right of the area. His shot beat Petr Cech but rolled just past the post.
Chelsea were rattled and Cech was grateful to hang on to a header from Steven Nzonzi. The visitors then spurned a chance as Ba found Lampard running into the area only for Asmir Begovic to deny him – the first of several good saves from the Bosnian.
It looked like the teams would go into half-time all square but with injury time almost up Cesar Azpilicueta swung in a cross from the right.
Mata was poised to convert, but he was beaten to the ball by a diving Walters, who powered the ball past his own keeper.
After the break, Stoke thought they had been given a penalty when Matthew Etherington fell under a challenge from Azpilicueta, but referee Andre Marriner had in fact awarded a free-kick to Chelsea for offside.
The killer goal arrived in the 62nd minute, and incredibly it was another own goal from Walters. This time Mata sent in a corner and the Stoke striker got his head to the ball just ahead of Lampard.
Mata and Hazard added further efforts before Terry was introduced for the final 10 minutes. There was still time for the defender to give away a penalty for a foul on Walters, but there was no redemption for the striker.
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