Gabriel Paulista and Santi Cazorla were both sent off for Arsenal as Chelsea clinched a 2-0 win over their Premier League rivals.
Gabriel was dismissed after clashing with Chelsea striker Diego Costa while Cazorla received a second yellow late in the second half at Stamford Bridge.
Kurt Zouma opened the scoring in the second half before the Blues wrapped up the match late on through Eden Hazard's strike.
Blues manager Jose Mourinho dropped captain John Terry to the bench and handed Branislav Ivanovic the armband, with Kurt Zouma and Gary Cahill preferred in the centre of defence.
For Arsenal, Theo Walcott started up front ahead of Olivier Giroud after the France international was sent off in the 2-1 Champions League loss to Dinamo Zagreb.
It was a tight first half as both sides were largely restricted to long-range efforts, with Theo Walcott drawing a comfortable save from goalkeeper Asmir Begovic after receiving Mesut Ozil's pass.
On 32 minutes, Chelsea came close to opening the scoring when Pedro received Cesc Fabregas' defence-splitting pass only for former Blues shot-stopper Petr Cech to smother the ball.
Just before half-time, Arsenal were reduced to 10 men. Diego Costa and Gabriel clashed with both players booked by referee Mike Dean, before the Arsenal defender was handed his marching orders for flicking his boot at the striker.
Chelsea made their numerical advantage pay eight minutes into the second half as Kurt Zouma headed in from close range following Fabregas' delivery from a free kick.
Arsenal had a chance to level on the hour mark but Alexis Sanchez sliced his chance, before the task was put beyond Arsene Wenger's team when Cazorla received a second yellow for a sliding tackle on Fabregas.
And the three points were sealed by Chelsea when Hazard saw his shot deflect off defender Calum Chambers to leave Cech with no chance.