Goals from Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres were enough to defeat Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge and keep the Londoners top of the Premier League.
Both goals came in a pulsating first half, whereas the second half was a bitter disappointment, with the visitors taking the plaudits albeit it without any goals to show for it
The Blues settled the quickest and an early chance on two minutes, fell to Fernando Torres.
But the Spain striker failed to react quick enough in the visitors' penalty area to a fine Branislav Ivanovic right-wing cross, and the ball was easily taken by Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul.
With John Terry out of the side with a neck injury and Frank Lampard on the bench, Petr Cech was handed the captain's armband.
As the Blues pushed forward, Eden Hazard was the grateful recipient of a misplaced pass by Vuron Anita in midfield and raced towards goal, on 14 minutes. He hit a 20 yard daisy-cutter which Krul expertly gathered.
Three minutes later, a long, early ball by Raul Meireles to Torres was chested down by the striker and fed in-running Ryan Bertrand. The midfielder's snap shot was directed straight towards Krul who snuffed out the chance.
The unrelenting pressure by the home side finally paid off on 22 minutes.
A lively Torres raced into the Newcastle penalty via a Mata through ball and hapless Anita was the unfortunate player to hack at Torres's right shin.
Referee Phil Dowd had no hesitation to point to the spot kick.Hazard, in the absence of Lampard, duly smashed the ball wide of Krul's outstretched left hand into the corner of the net to score his first goal for the Blues after his summer signing from Lille for £32m.
Ivanovic almost doubled the score, leaping above Fabricio Coloccini on the half hour to powerfully drive an Ashley Cole cross towards goal. This time Krul was able to dive to his left and halt the goal-bound effort.
Torres went into Dowd's book with five minutes of the half remaining. Torres appeared to fall over Colloccini's trailing leg when clear, and Dowd adjudged that the striker attempted to con him into giving a foul.
Newcastle's first shot on goal came with two minutes left of the half, when David Luiz failed to clear and the ball fell neatly to Ba, who swivelled and shot in one quick movement on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area. Thankfully for the Blues, the ball went straight into the midriff of Cech.
Within seconds the Blues doubled their lead. A brilliant one-two on the edge of the Newcastle area between Hazard and Torres, saw the Spain striker poke home past Krul with a deft right-footer much to the delight of most the 41,718 crowd.
Newcastle started the second half on the front foot, pressing Chelsea back. Cech was forced into a smart near-post save on 58 minutes, from a left-footed blaster from Papiss Cisse, which the Czech stopper parked away for a corner.
Cisse failed to direct a free header on target from eight yards out, from a Yohan Cabaye free-kick on 67 minutes as the Blues looked distinctly rattled at the back.
As Newcastle started to run out of steam and ideas, The Blues regained the upper hand.
With 10 minutes remaining Bertrand tried his hand at a 30-yarder which inched just wide of Krul's left upright.
But the visitors still proved dangerous and with six minutes left, Ba should have got a goal back. A double stab on goal saw the second effort arrow to Cech's left side, but the goalkeeper did well to get down low to snatch the ball out of the net.
The game petered out and both side we grateful when the final whistle went and hey could get in the changing room out of the torrential rain.
Teams.
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cole, Luiz, Torres, Mata, Mikel, Meireles, Hazard, Cahill, Bertrand.
Subs: Turnbull, Essien, Romeu, Ramires, Lampard, Oscar, Sturridge
Newcastle United: Krul, Coloccini, Santon, Cabaye, Simpson, Anita, Cisse, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Ba, Steven Taylor.
Subs: Harper, Williamson, Perch, Ryan Taylor, Amalfitano, Marveaux, Oberton
Referee Phil Dowd