Roman Abramovich may wish to reconsider his quest for the beautiful game after this. In the first half, Chelsea played the fast, one-touch passing football that is closest to their benefactor’s heart, and it got them nowhere. A goal down with 20 minutes remaining, they converted to the direct, aesthetically unappealing approach that has been the root of so many bad vibes from the owner’s box at Stamford Bridge, and clawed victory from the clutches of defeat. The result: Chelsea are now established as the biggest threat to Manchester United’s supremacy this season. Avram Grant, football genius, as they don’t like to sing around these parts.

The Chelsea first-team coach would be permitted a wry smile – as opposed to his standard expression, which is that of a man who has returned to find his car clamped at midnight – at his change of fortune here. Trailing to a header from Bacary Sagna, the Arsenal defender, he removed Claude Makelele for Nicolas Anelka and Michael Ballack for Juliano Belletti after 70 minutes, the second substitution bringing a chorus of disapproval from the crowd and noisy chants endorsing José Mourinho, Grant’s predecessor.

Within 12 minutes, Chelsea were ahead, thanks to the chaos caused in Arsenal’s defensive ranks by the introduction of a second striker, while the second goal was the work of a free kick from the unwelcome Belletti. Nobody sang for Grant when his instincts were proven correct, but there is still time.

This was a milestone for the new manager, with three points taken from a title rival. All eyes will now be on the visit of Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on April 26, although Chelsea cannot afford to drop points between now and then, and need another club to do them a favour, too, with five points and an inferior goal difference the gap between them and United – Arsenal, perhaps, who must go to Old Trafford on April 13.

What Chelsea have going for them is that four of their last seven matches are at home, and Stamford Bridge remains a stronghold. No team has won here since Claudio Ranieri’s time, although when Sagna ran off Salomon Kalou to glance a header past Carlo Cudicini in the 59th minute, Arsenal were shaping to go as close as any. That the goal came from a corner by Cesc Fàbregas was no surprise. Following on from his stunning performance in the San Siro against AC Milan earlier this month, the Spaniard was rising to the occasion in another big game, pulling the strings, toying with the tempo of the occasion, slowing the play down, making it react to his bidding. Some of his passes inside the Chelsea full backs were sublime, the high points of the creative action. What changed was Chelsea’s approach, which moved from playing Arsenal fruitlessly at their own game to presenting them with the type of physical challenge that has long been an Achilles heel.

For 70 minutes, Chelsea laboured as Arsenal Lite, with excellent, swift exchanges of passing and good movement, but to little effect. It was noticeable that for all their possession their best chance of the first half came from an absolute hoof out of defence by John Terry, which dropped at the feet of Didier Drogba on the run, a poor first touch sending the ball harmlessly into the hands of Manuel Almunia, the Arsenal goalkeeper.

When Grant introduced Anelka as Drogba’s partner, a move which closely coincided with a rearrangement in the Arsenal back four as Sagna, the right back, left the field injured, Chelsea abandoned all pretence of trying to tickle Arsenal into submission.

Out came the battering ram, and there is nobody better to administer it than Drogba, the Ivory Coast striker, whose scoring form returned at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday. Undaunted by his first-half miss, he bullied Arsenal’s defence to defeat, Kolo Touré, his countryman, finding his presence particularly undesirable.

What his goals lacked in splendour they made up for in sheer bloody-mindedness. There was nothing greatly handsome about Chelsea’s 72nd-minute equaliser, other than the sheer effort put in by Drogba and Frank Lampard in battling for a long ball struck by Belletti. When it finally broke loose, Drogba’s finish was smart and decisive, and his goal ripped the guts out of Arsenal. From there, the worst that Chelsea were going to do was draw.

In the 81st minute, they upgraded. Belletti struck a free kick from the right, which Anelka flicked on, Drogba losing Touré to win the game with a shot on the half volley, struck into the ground but with enough force to beat Almunia, even though the goalkeeper got his hands to it. A minute later, Chelsea threatened again, with another Belletti cross met by Drogba, although this time Almunia tipped it round.

At the end, Chelsea looked belligerent, Arsenal humbled. Christophe Lolllichon, Chelsea’s goalkeeping coach, was sent from the bench by Mark Clattenburg, the referee, during injury time for throwing the ball away, but there was little point in winding the clock down in such childish fashion. Arsenal did not have an equalising goal in them by that time, and the ineffectiveness of their own attacking substitute, Theo Walcott, introduced after 75 minutes, must have been a particular worry to Fabio Capello, the watching England manager. (Although not as big a worry as the form of Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal’s Drogba, must be to Arsène Wenger. He barely showed all game.)

This was a serious defeat and Arsenal knew it. For a month Wenger’s team had kept their head above water, not playing well but drawing matches, fooling the world that this was a blip not a slump. Now there can be no doubt. From five points clear, Arsenal are six points adrift of Manchester United and no longer in a position to guarantee qualification for the Champions League. Chelsea’s fate may only be to trot up in second place, but one would rather be in Grant’s shoes right now than Wenger’s. And that is the first time anybody has wished for that this season.

How they rated

Chelsea (4-3-3): C Cudicini 7 M Essien 7 R Carvalho 7 J Terry 7 A Cole 7 M Ballack Y 6 C Makelele 6 F Lampard 7 J Cole Y 7 D Drogba Y 8 S Kalou 5
Substitutes: J Belletti 7 (for Ballack, 70min), N Anelka 6 (for Makelele, 70), J O Mikel (for J Cole, 88).
Not used: Hilário, Alex.
Next: Middlesbrough (h).

Arsenal: (4-4-1-1): M Almunia 6 B Sagna 7 K Touré 5 W Gallas 7 G Clichy 6 E Eboué Y 6 F Fàbregas 7 M Flamini 7 R van Persie 5 A Hleb 5 E Adebayor 5
Substitutes: A Diaby (for Sagna, 71), T Walcott (for Van Persie, 75), N Bendtner (for Flamini, 88)
Not used: J Lehmann, P Senderos.
Next: Bolton Wanderers (a).