Eden Hazard continued his brilliant record against Bournemouth as Chelsea kept touch with their title rivals.
Belgian wing wizard Hazard smashed a near post blast past former teammate Asmir Begovic, as he capitalised on a Simon Francis defensive error.
The Blues moved back up to fourth, above Arsenal, as they put behind nightmares of back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Crystal Palace earlier this month.
The Cherries remain cut adrift in the relegation zone as they continue to fire this season.
Here are Adrian Kajumba's 5 talking points from the Vitality Stadium...
1. Chelsea win again
After a three game winless streak featuring back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Crystal Palace, Chelsea's recovery continues. This was a third win on the spin in the last week.
They are not back to their best yet and each of their victories – over Watford, Everton and now Bournemouth – have been hard fought ones and far from impressive. Such are the standards the Blues set last season en-route to winning the league.
But the trio of wins will do their confidence no harm after it needed restoring following that recent blip and ahead of their return Champions League tie against Roma on Tuesday.
2. Win some, lose some
Chelsea got the rub of the green last week when their first goal against Watford came from a corner that never was. This week they were cursing the officials.
Cesar Azpilicueta was incorrectly flagged offside when he reacted quickest to David Luiz's shot just before Alvaro Morata put the ball in the net.
3. Hazard-Morata link up
Once upon a time it was Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa. Now it is Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata. There were more signs of the “connection” between the pair that Hazard spoke about this week against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
The link-up between Chelsea's Belgian winger and new No.9 was one of the features of Chelsea's display and is encouraging so early in their time as teammates.
Twice Hazard teed up Morata for chances that would have been goals were it not for interventions from Asmir Begovic in the first half. And Morata returned the favour after the break for Hazard's 51 minute opener.
4. Chelsea old boys
Antonio Conte said he would be pleased to see Blues old boys Asmir Begovic and Nathan Ake again. He might have had a different opinion at half-time.
Begovic produced two saves to deny Alvaro Morata, the second particularly impressive when he stuck out a left hand to divert the Spaniard's first-half shot behind.
But Begovic couldn't keep it up and was in the spotlight when Hazard beat him at his near post for Chelsea's first goal.
5. Defoe's difficulties go on
Bournemouth's biggest – not in terms of fee as he was a free agent but name and expectation – Jermain Defoe, is not having the best of times back on the south coast.
He has scored just once in the league this season, against Brighton last month. And he was the man sacrificed here after a half when Bournemouth offered little in terms of attacking threat.
It was not an encouraging sign that when Eddie Howe wanted to improve things, Defoe was the man taken off. In his defence, he was starved of service and had little support.
And Bournemouth showed little interest in attacking until after the break.