Chelsea got off to a victorious start in the English Premier League's busy holiday programme with a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa on Sunday while champions Arsenal brushed aside Fulham 2-0.

Chelsea were below their sparkling best but maintained their five-point lead as in-form Damien Duff's goal after 30 minutes was enough to beat injury-weakened Villa.

Across London at Highbury, Thierry Henry's 20th club goal of the season after 12 minutes and one for fellow Frenchman Robert Pires after 71 were fair reward for Arsenal's dominance.

Chelsea top the standings on 46 points with Arsenal on 41. Later on Sunday third-placed Everton (37 points) host Manchester City while Manchester United, fourth on 34, play Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford.

Saturday's other early game between Southampton and Charlton Athletic ended goalless.

Chelsea, bidding for their first league title for 50 years, took a while to get going at Stamford Bridge where Villa looked comfortable in the opening half hour.

The breakthrough came in the 30th minute when Arjen Robben picked the ball up in his own half and ran 30 metres at the retreating defence.

The Dutchman fed Duff on the right and he cut inside to fire in a low left-footed shot from 12 metres.

It was the sixth time in Chelsea's last nine games that the Irish winger had opened the scoring but unlike in recent weeks Chelsea failed to build on the start.

SHOT CLEARED

Robben had a shot cleared off the line by Mark Delaney five minutes later but the slick passing that has led to so many emphatic victories was absent and the second half was something of a battle.

However, Jose Mourinho's team did enough to make it eight wins and two draws from their 10 home games, in which they have scored 20 goals and conceded just three.

"They played well, credit to Villa, but we battled it out and dealt with everything they threw at us and a great goal separated the teams," Chelsea captain John Terry told Sky Sports.

"We're enjoying being at the top, the team spirit is fantastic and if we can keep that, hopefully it will be a good year for us."

Arsenal cannot afford to slip as they chase Chelsea approaching the halfway point in the season and Henry had the club's fans in holiday mood when he got things underway at Highbury after 12 minutes.

The French striker, runner-up to Ronaldinho in last week's World Player of the Year awards, showed neat control to make space on the edge of the box before stepping inside to score a typical opportunist goal.

Arsenal turned on the style with midfielders Patrick Vieira and Freddie Ljungberg going close but they lost their way a little after the break and needed a smart save by keeper Manuel Almunia to keep out a lob by Tomasz Radzinski.

The scare sparked the champions into renewed effort and after Henry clipped the bar they got the second when a neat passing move set up Pires to settle things.

The top two are back in action this week as Chelsea visit Portsmouth on Tuesday and Arsenal travel to Newcastle United on Wednesday.