Premier League leaders Arsenal needed two own goals, the second deep in stoppage time, to scrape a 2-1 home win over bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers and open a five-point gap while earlier on Saturday Mohamed Salah put aside a tumultuous week to help Liverpool beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0.
The table will show that Wolves remain cast adrift with two points from their opening 16 games, but they played well above their lowly standing and when Tolu Arokodare headed them level in the 90th minute Arsenal were stunned.
After defeat by Aston Villa last weekend, failure to beat Wolves at home would have blown the title race wide open, but when Bukayo Saka swung in a cross towards substitute Gabriel Jesus in the fourth minute of stoppage time, it flew in off the head of the unfortunate Yerson Mosquera.
The final whistle was met with cheers and huge relief with Arsenal's players realising just how close they had come to handing away their advantage to Manchester City, who are in action at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Arsenal have 36 points from 16 games with City on 31 from 15. Aston Villa, who face third-from-bottom West Ham United on Sunday, have 30 from 15.
Chelsea moved up to fourth on 28 as they returned to winning ways with a 2-0 home win against Everton - fit-again Cole Palmer scoring his first goal since September. Fulham eased away from the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory at Burnley, their first win at Turf Moor in 35 attempts dating back to 1951. Burnley's defeat means they have lost seven successive top-flight games for the first time since 1895.
Arsenal may look back on this ugly win as a pivotal moment in their bid to win their first English title since 2003-04.
"We will take the points and move forward. We won't know (the significance) until May, but we can be happy tonight that we left with three points," Arsenal captain Saka said.
For Wolves it was a cruel blow as Rob Edwards's team showed great spirit to frustrate Arsenal and almost snatch a point.
Arsenal laboured and barely had a shot on target until they took the lead in bizarre fashion in the 70th minute.
Saka whipped in a wickedly curling corner to the back post and Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone pushed it against the woodwork, only for the ball to rebound back and go in off his shoulder.
But Wolves were not finished and in the final minutes they had Arsenal penned deep in their own half and hanging on.
After a long passing move, Mateus Mane's forward pass into the area was met by Arokodare, who directed the ball past David Raya to send Wolves fans into delirium.
Their joy was to be short-lived though as Arsenal got the luckiest of breaks to stay in control of their destiny, while Wolves' two-point haul after 16 games is a joint-record low in top-flight history.
"It's hurtful. It's been happening to us the whole season. We play very good for the whole 90 minutes and then at the end we always concede," Arokodare said.
Salah's outburst after being an unused substitute against Leeds United and his exclusion from Liverpool's squad for the midweek trip to Inter Milan led to days of speculation that the Egyptian's glittering Anfield career was coming to a bitter end.
But it was all smiles again as he returned to the squad and set up the second of Hugo Ekitike's goals after coming off the bench midway through the first half.
The assist was his 277th goal involvement for Liverpool in the Premier League, passing the record for a single club he had shared with Wayne Rooney's 276 for Manchester United.
"He was back in the squad again and we needed him because he was the first substitution I made," manager Arne Slot said.
"He assisted for the 2-0 for the corner kick which is also very nice for us because we have been so many times this season on the wrong side of the set-piece battle."
Champions Liverpool moved up to sixth with 26 points while Brighton are ninth on 23.
Chelsea had gone four games without a win in all competitions with manager Enzo Maresca saying the last 48 hours had been his worst since arriving at Stamford Bridge.
But Palmer, who has been struggling with a groin injury, opened the scoring after 21 minutes before Malo Gusto made it 2-0 just before halftime.
