Substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen kept alive Chelsea's Premiership title hopes at lowly Manchester City.
The Icelandic international struck a late winner as Claudio Ranieri's side looked set to be held to a goalless draw at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Little over eight minutes remained when Gudjohnsen came to their rescue and struck what could be a vital goal as the deadlock was finally broken.
City, who have not beaten Chelsea at home since 1990-91, must still be wondering how they came away empty handed after dominating the match.
Indeed, any neutral observer would never have guessed which team which team was battling for the championship and which is perilously close to the relegation places.
City appeared jinxed at Eastlands having failed to win in their last 11 matches at their new home.
And after their latest setback - striker Robbie Fowler was the chief culprit in front of goal, - they must be wondering what they have to do to register a home victory.
City manager Kevin Keegan was left to reflect on what might have been.
He said: "It was a terrific performance and we couldn't have done any more.
"There were no weak links and it was a real hard luck story. Chelsea have some great players and we totally outplayed them. It is hard to take, but we have to.
"It is difficult to go in and say well done to the players when you have lost, but they couldn't have given us any more." Keegan added that Fowler could have broken the record set by Bournemouth set by James Hayter, who scored a hat-trick in a league record two minutes 20 seconds in midweek.
Fowler had three chances in quick succession at the start of the second half, but each time failed to hit the target.
Keegan added that Chelsea manager Ranieri had summed it up better than he could.
He said: "Claudio told me we played fantastic and they had played poorly.
"You lose the game we win. That's football. It's crazy.
"And then he walked off and that's how I would have summed it up." Chelsea certainly rode their luck before clinching a tenth away League victory which lifts them to second place ahead of Manchester United who were held at Fulham.
Paul Bosvelt and Joey Barton, available after suspension, had to settle for places on the bench as Keegan made only one change from the team that won in their absence at Bolton.
Defender Daniel Van Buyten returned after injury with Trevor Sinclair standing down, though Keegan rejigged his formation.
Van Buyten returned to the centre of defence with Richard Dunne switching to right-back and Shaun Wright-Phillips restored to midfield.
City made the livelier start forcing three corners in the opening three minutes, though they failed to trouble Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini.
The nearest they came to a goal came in the 18th minute when Jonathan Macken's near-post flick flew inches wide of the upright low to the right of Cudicini.
There was then an amazing let-off for City as goalkeeper David James' awful clearance struck Frank Lampard, who luckily couldn't control the hard struck kick and it fortuitously rebounded to the relieved keeper.
Chelsea then had an escape as Fowler burst through the centre of their defence only to be thwarted by last man William Gallas.
Chelsea finished the opening period strongly creating a number of clear cut chances beginning with Lampard, who glanced a near post header narrowly wide from Geremi's free-kick.
James was then forced to acrobatically turn over Lampard's lob and from Geremi's resulting corner Hernon Crespo's near-post header was brilliantly kept out by James diving to his left.
Chelsea made a substitution at the start of the second half with Claude Makelele replacing the ineffective Joe Cole in the centre of midfield.
But it was City who made a fantastic start with Fowler missing three great chances in the space of as many minutes.
Seconds after the restart Fowler was put clear through by Wright-Phillips only to slide the ball wide as goalkeeper Cudicini advanced from his line.
Fowler then intercepted a dreadful pass from Scott Parker and from just outside the penalty area crashed a shot inches wide.
The City striker then rose above Chelsea's static defence to meet Michael Tarnat's left-wing cross, but headed over the crossbar.
City continued their onslaught with Tarnat setting up Antoine Sibierski, who crashed a 30-yard thunderbolt shot a couple of feet wide.
Dunne, up for a corner then saw his header from Tarnat's dead-ball delivery land on the roof of the net with Cudicini beaten and the second half was still not ten minutes old.
City also had a penalty appeal waved aside after Glen Johnson looked to have impeded Fowler inside the penalty area.
Amazingly in view of the pressure City exerted, Cudicini's first save came in the 62nd minute as he did superbly well to block Sylvain Distin's close-range header on the goal-line following Tarnat's corner.
City continued to carve out chance after chance and Fowler went close again with a header which dipped inches over from Wright-Phillips cross.
Chelsea brought on Gudjohnsen and Robert Huth as Ranieri rejigged his side to try and inject new ideas, but City continued to dominate.
City had another great chance with eleven minutes remaining when Van Buyten had another free header from Tarnat's free-kick only to fail miserably in his efforts to hit the target.
Then completely against the run of play Chelsea snatched the lead in the 82nd minute. Gudjohnsen raced on to Wayne Bridge's throughball, evading City's offside trap and coolly lobbing James from the edge of the penalty area.
The goal stunned the City fans because Chelsea had hardly had a sniff at goal in the second half which had been completely dominated by the home side.
In the dying minutes City failed to muster any further goal attempts as Chelsea's defence held firm as they were determined not to squander the lead which had been given to them by Iceman Gudjohnsen.
But Keegan took great heart from his side's performance saying: "I was very proud of the way my players did.
"We outplayed Chelsea for long periods and their side was basically the same that played at Stuttgart in the Champions League in midweek and which won against a side who other teams have failed to beat." Man of the Match: Shaun Wright-Phillips – A constant threat down the City right, his work deserved to be rewarded with a win for Kevin Keegan's struggling side.