Elsewhere, Newcastle overcame Manchester City 3-0 at St James' Park, Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at Middlesbrough, while Everton picked up their first win in six with a 2-0 success over Wolves and Leicester and Charlton shared a 1-1 draw at The Walkers Stadium.
With Manchester United going top of the table with a 2-1 win over Blackburn in a lunchtime kick-off, Arsenal knew the pressure was on and they responded in great style.
Goals from Freddie Ljungberg (4), Dennis Bergkamp (80) and Robert Pires (88) ensured Arsenal celebrated Arsene Wenger's 400th game in style and set a new Premiership record by extending their unbeaten run to 13 games.
Chelsea stay one point behind Arsenal in second thanks to a narrow 1-0 victory at Southampton courtesy of a rare goal from Mario Melchiot.
After a dour first half Chelsea broke the deadlock two minutes into the second half, with Melchiot grabbing the winner following a neat one-two with Eidur Gudjohnsen.
Bolton piled the misery on struggling Leeds and ensured Eddie Gray's reign got off to the worst possible beginning with a 2-0 win at Elland Road.
Kevin Davies gave Bolton the perfect start with the opener on 16 minutes and the visitors stunned the home side with a second in the space of 60 seconds courtesy of Greek star Stelios Giannakopoulos.
Newcastle moved into the top six with an impressive 3-0 victory over Manchester City at St James' Park, with Alan Shearer grabbing another two goals.
Second half goals from Shola Ameobi (57) and Shearer (77, 85) - his 254th and 255th league goals - were enough to give Sir Bobby Robson's men the spoils and help erase the 5-0 defeat at Chelsea.
Liverpool fell further behind the leading pack after being held to a goalless draw at Middlesbrough.
The draw leaves Liverpool 15 points behind Arsenal, while Middlesbrough recorded their fourth successive clean sheet to maintain their recent good form.
Everton climbed out of the bottom three with a comfortable 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Wolves at Goodison Park.
Tomasz Radzinski fired the hosts in front on 16 minutes and Kevin Kilbane doubled the lead three minutes later by heading his first goal for the club.
Paolo Di Canio's late penalty earned Charlton a deserved 1-1 draw at Leicester to maintain their unbeaten run.
Les Ferdinand gave Leicester a first half lead on 39 minutes with his third goal in four games, but Di Canio earned Charlton a point with an 84th minute penalty after he was fouled by Steve Howey.
Click on the score for report
Birmingham City 0-3 Arsenal
Everton 2-0 Wolves
Leeds 0-2 Bolton
Leicester 1-1 Charlton
Middlesbrough 0-0 Liverpool
Newcastle 3-0 Man City
Southampton 0-1 Chelsea
