Arsenal went top of the Barclays Premier League on a day that saw defending champions Chelsea and their under-fire boss Jose Mourinho endure another tumultuous and disappointing afternoon.
The Gunners moved above Manchester City after seeing off Everton 2-1, with two goals in as many first-half minutes from Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny doing the damage.
Ross Barkley drew one back for the visiting Toffees but their night ended on a low when Gareth Barry was sent off.
Mourinho, meanwhile, had another dreadful day as West Ham condemned them to a fifth defeat in 10 league matches.
He was sent to the stands during the half-time interval, by which time his struggling champions had already seen Mauro Zarate put the Hammers ahead and lost Nemanja Matic to a red card.
Gary Cahill levelled for the visitors in the 56th minute but Andy Carroll's first goal since January made it 2-1 and another grim day for the Blues.
There was defeat for another under pressure manager at Villa Park, where a late goal from Swansea secured a 2-1 away triumph.
Tim Sherwood's side have now lost six league games in a row, but it was the hosts who took the lead through Jordan Ayew after 62 minutes.
That was quickly cancelled out by Gylfi Sigurdsson before Ayew's elder brother, Andre, grabbed all three points three minutes from time.
At the King Power Stadium, Leicester's Jamie Vardy was celebrating his elevation to an elite group.
The England international scored the only goal of the game on the hour to become the eighth man in Premier League history to score in seven consecutive games.
Norwich registered their third loss in a row at home to West Brom.
The Baggies made it a hat-trick of 1-0 wins on the road this term with Salomon Rondon settling matters just after the interval.
Stokes's three-game winning run was halted at the Britannia Stadium, Watford leaving with a 2-0 success courtesy of Troy Deeney first top-flight goal and a second from Amen Abdi.
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