Chelsea have been beaten for the second time this season, going down to Tottenham in a scintillating eight-goal contest on New Year's Day.
The Blues went into the White Hart Lane encounter having won just once in their past four fixtures on the road and their away struggles continued despite taking an early lead through Diego Costa.
The Spanish striker netted his 14th goal of the campaign in the 18th minute to join Sergio Aguero at the top of the Golden Boot chart before the in-form Harry Kane responded on the half-hour mark.
Danny Rose then edged Spurs ahead in the 44th minute prior to Andros Townsend's penalty in stoppage time.
Remarkably, Tottenham then went ahead 4-1 when Kane struck his seventh of the season with a nice turn and shot in the 52nd minute.
Eden Hazard attempted to get the Blues back into the contest when playing a neat one-two with Cesc Fabregas before firing beyond Hugo Lloris just after the hour-mark but Nacer Chadli ended any hope of a comeback by rifling past Thibaut Courtois with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Blues skipper John Terry steered home into an empty net with three minutes remaining but it was not enough to get Jose Mourinho's men off the floor as Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs won this fixture for just the third time in 45 league fixtures to move up to fifth on the table.
Earlier in the day, reigning champions Manchester City moved to 46 points - equal with Chelsea on both points and goal difference - by edging Sunderland 3-2 courtesy of a 73rd-minute winner from Frank Lampard.
It was a five-goal second half at the Etihad Stadium which saw efforts from Yaya Toure and Stevan Jovetic give City the advantage before Jack Rodwell and Adam Johnson levelled prior to the evergreen Lampard's fifth league goal for the Eastlands club.
Southampton affirmed their spot in the top four by defeating Arsenal 2-0 at St Mary's thanks to goals either side of half-time from Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic while West Ham United dropped to seventh after being held to a 1-1 draw by West Bromwich Albion at Upton Park.
At Anfield, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored twice from the penalty spot before Leicester City hit back through David Nugent and Jeffrey Schlupp to force a 2-2 draw.
Stoke City scored early through Ryan Shawcross before Radamel Falcao equalised for Manchester United in their 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium, ten-man Swansea City required an injury-time leveler from Wilfried Bony to draw 1-1 with QPR at Loftus Road as Aston Villa and Crystal Palace played out a 0-0 stalemate at Villa Park.
And in another Barclays Premier League goal-fest, Newcastle United and Burnley drew 3-3 in caretaker John Carver's first match as Magpies manager following Alan Pardew's exit to Palace.
The Toon led on three occasions but the Clarets always found a way of hitting back with George Boyd's 86th-minute goal ultimately forcing the drawn result.
The New Year's Day matches completes the hectic Christmas schedule for Premier League clubs with focus now being turned to the third round of the FA Cup this weekend.
2014/15 Barclays Premier League - season scores
Stoke City: 1 (Ryan Shawcross 2') Manchester United: 1 (Radamel Falcao 53') Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent - 27,203
Aston Villa: 0 Crystal Palace: 0 Villa Park, Birmingham - 29,047
Hull City: 2 (Ahmed Elmohamady 33', Nikica Jelavic 43') Everton: 0 (red card: Antolin Alcaraz 86') KC Stadium, Hull - 23,865
Liverpool: 2 (Steven Gerrard (p) 17'/(p) 40') Leicester City: 2 (David Nugent 58', Jeffrey Schlupp 60') Anfield, Liverpool - 44,720
Manchester City: 3 (Yaya Toure 57', Stevan Jovetic 66', Frank Lampard 73') Sunderland: 2 (Jack Rodwell 68', Adam Johnson (p) 71') Etihad Stadium, Manchester - 45,367
Newcastle United: 3 (Steven Taylor 15', Jack Colback 26', Moussa Sissoko 78') Burnley: 3 (Paul Dummett (og) 19', Danny Ings 66', George Boyd 86') St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 51,761
QPR: 1 (Leroy Fer 20') Swansea City: 1 (Wilfried Bony 90+2', red card: Wayne Routledge 86') Loftus Road, London - 17,729
Southampton: 2 (Sadio Mane 34', Dusan Tadic 56') Arsenal: 0 St Mary's Stadium, Southampton - 31,492
West Ham United: 1 (Diafra Sakho 10') West Bromwich Albion: 1 (Saido Berahino 42') Upton Park, London - 34,914
Tottenham: 5 (Harry Kane 30'/52', Danny Rose 44', Andros Townsend (p) 45+4', Nacer Chadli 78') Chelsea: 3 (Diego Costa 18', Eden Hazard 61', John Terry 87') White Hart Lane, London - 35,903
