A rare Petr Cech mistake allowed the hosts to take the lead when Abdoulaye Faye's header looped over the Chelsea goalkeeper who was stranded in no-man's land.

But Chelsea's pressure eventually told and Didier Drogba fired across the goalkeeper into the top corner on the stroke of half-time.

It looked like the match was set to end all square but Malouda smashed the ball home after it had been laid back to him by substitute Nicolas Anelka to snatch all three points for Chelsea.

"We got what we deserved because we tried to attack all the time. I am very happy because it was a difficult game," said the Italian coach.

"We maintained good control throughout the match and that was important. We applied a lot of pressure and were rewarded for our play."

Arsenal endured another nightmare visit to the north west as they lost 4-2 to Manchester City with former player Emmanuel Adebayor on the scoresheet for the hosts.

Adebayor later apologised for his goal celebration against his former team. The Togo striker headed home the decisive third goal before charging the full length of the field to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters who spent the afternoon baiting him.

"To be honest, I'm very sorry for all this," said the £25million striker.

"Sometimes, the emotion takes over. That's what happened. I was very happy to score the goal. Before the game, people have been saying and writing things and the emotions took over.

"People who love me and know me know how I behave."

A Yossi Benayoun hat-trick saw Liverpool down a spirited Burnley side 4-0 as manager Rafael Benitez hailed the Israel international.

"Yossi had been away on international duty in midweek and done a lot of travelling, but he wanted to play," said the Reds boss. "It is important to him to show his quality in every training session and every match.

"Over the seasons he has shown his value coming off the bench, but now he is showing how important he can be with movement and passing ability from the start."

Blackburn triumphed 3-1 to record their first home win of the campaign with a comfortable victory over Wolves. Rovers headed into the game without a victory and with just one league goal to their credit but El-Hadji Diouf, Jason Roberts and David Dunn served up an impressive win.

Rovers boss Sam Allardyce said: "The flair players like Diouf make a big difference when they use their skills in the right areas. It's the same with Dunn - his skill and talent is what we need on a weekly basis."

Portsmouth will rue their missed opportunities after a late Gary Cahill goal gave Bolton a 3-2 win at Fratton Park.

Deflated Pompey boss Paul Hart refused to complain, however.

"Sometimes it can appear that the luck isn't going your way and you can bemoan it as much as you like. But that doesn't change anything and you have to try and put things right."

Elsewhere on Saturday a storming second-half performance gave Sunderland a 4-1 win over Hull.

Hugo Rodallega's second goal of the season was enough to see Wigan beat West Ham 1-0 at the DW Stadium and ease some of the pressure on manager Roberto Martinez.