A Paul McShane own goal, five minutes after the break, gave the hosts the lead but Geovanni equalised 12 minutes later with a stunning strike before Daniel Cousin headed home the winner after 66 minutes.

Arsene Wenger celebrates 12 years at the helm on Sunday but had little to cheer as a late William Gallas header hit the crossbar and his side slumped to their first home League defeat since West Ham won at Ashburton Grove in April 2007.

The Gunners were rather mooted for much of the first-half and broke the deadlock in scrappy fashion.

Theo Walcott’s pull back was deflected by Emmanuel Adebayor and the ball came off the shin of McShane and into the net.

Adebayor should really have made it two within as many minutes but he scooped his effort over the top and that proved costly as Brazilian Geovanni unleashed a fierce 25-yard diagonal shot past a helpless Manuel Almunia.

And the newly promoted side were ahead as Arsenal conceded their third goal from a corner this season.

Cousin nipped in ahead of French compatriot Gallas and flicked a superb header into the top corner.

Arsenal then had a hatful of chances to level with Myhill twice turning away long-range strikes from Fabregas and Van Persie failing to hit the target on a number of occasions.

Gallas almost made amends for his earlier lapse by planting a header against the woodwork six minutes from time with sub Carlos Vela unable to react to the rebound.

And Kolo Toure had a great chance in injury-time to salvage a point when he found himself in acres of space at the back post from the corner but he shanked his shot horribly wide as the Gunners suffered just their second defeat at the Emirates.

The first-half gave little indication of the excitement to come although Adebayor did have a goal disallowed after he headed home powerfully at the far post only to be adjudged to have pushed McShane.

Walcott was denied when Andy Dawson made a great tackle just as the teenager was about to pull the trigger following a lightning counter-attack and later found himself unmarked eight yards out but a heavy first touch saw the ball harmlessly run through to Myhill.

Emmanuel Eboue was guilty of over elaborating when he opted to pass to Van Persie inside the penalty goal when offered a clear sight at goal just before half-time and their wastefulness was a key factor in Hull’s first victory over Arsenal since 1915.

Jose Bosingwa’s 36th minute opener was followed by a goal from substitute Nicolas Anelka 14 minutes from time as the Blues maintained their 100 per cent away record under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The signs were ominous before Bosingwa’s opener.

Michael Ballack’s early stinger forced Thomas Sorensen into his first save with the Dane tipping a fierce shot from 25 yards over the bar.

Sorensen was also forced to dive to his right to tip a free-kick from the German around the post.

And there was still only 15 minutes on the clock when he stretched out his left boot to denyDidier Drogba his first League goal since March.

Frank Lampard had a goalbound shot blocked before Chelsea did make the breakthrough when the England midfielder fed Bosingwa from the right and the marauding Portuguese full-back collected the ball beautifully on his chest before beating Sorensen with a smart finish which Andy Griffin could do nothing about on the line.

Sorensen had to rush off his line to get to Florent Malouda’s through ball just ahead of Salomon Kalou and the one-way traffic continued after the break with Lampard having a shot deflected narrowly past the post by Leon Cort before Sorensen pushed Malouda’s shot on to the crossbar

Tony Pulis’s side, who earned a point from a goalless draw at Liverpool last weekend, were rarely seen in the opposite third in the opening half with Mamady Sidibe’s tame header their only effort on target.

But they improved after Ricardo Fuller replaced the ineffective Dave Kitson in attack and their best chance came on the hour when Cort’s header from a corner was cleared off the line by John Obi Mikel.

Stoke continued to press and forced a series of corners but the game was effectively ended when Cort failed to deal with a cross from the right and as he slipped he only managed to chest the ball straight into the path of Anelka whose shot found the net despite Sorensen getting a strong hand on it.

Chelsea had chances to put some gloss on the scoreline with Ballack screwing a shot wide and Lampard scuffing an effort straight at Sorensen from point blank range but they will go to Romania for the midweek Champions League encounter with CFR Cluj in high spirits.

First-half goals by Christopher Samba and Roque Santa Cruz put Rovers firmly in charge of the match, and the visitors hung on to win after Michael Owen’s 50th-minute penalty brought Newcastle back into contention.

Despite the bewilderment of Newcastle’s fans at the decision to appoint forgotten man Joe Kinnear as interim manager, 42,000 turned up to cheer on the home side.

The crowd failed to inspire the men in black and white in the first-half, however, during which Newcastle failed to register a single shot on target.

The only surprise in the first period was that it took Rovers 30 minutes to take the lead. Shay Given had earlier made heroic saves from Matt Derbyshire and Santa Cruz to keep his side in it, while Sebastien Bassong cleared a Derbyshire header from off the line.

Newcastle’s rearguard action crumbled after half an hour, when Samba powered home a free kick from the influentialCarlos Villanueva into the net. The defender appeared to be in an offside position when the Chilean summer signing whipped the ball left-footed into the box from the right, but the goal was no more than Blackburn deserved.

Ten minutes later Santa Cruz doubled the Lancashire outfit’s lead when he guided a header past Given and into the same corner as Samba’s opener from a Brett Emerton cross from the right.

Chris Hughton, in solo charge of the Magpies for the final time, sent his side out early for the second half, and they responded with a lively opening effort.

That was rewarded five minutes in when Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen was adjudged to have fouled Owen just inside the area by referee Steve Tanner. Owen took the resulting penalty himself, and stroked the ball down the centre of the goal to beat Blackburn’s otherwise excellent stand-in keeper Jason Brown.

Damien Duff looked dangerous on Newcastle’s left wing during the second period. He created two headed chances forGeremi either side of Owen’s goal, but the Cameroonian failed to find the target with either.

Nelsen was booked for a high challenge on Owen with 65 minutes on the clock, and was then extremely fortunate to avoid a second yellow for a late, late tackle on N’Zogbia on the edge of the United area ten minutes later.

A red card would certainly have made Blackburn’s task harder, but with their full quota of players on the pitch Rovers dealt comfortably with Newcastle’s attempts to equalise.

The Magpies had the vast majority of the ball after halving the deficit, but failed to create any clear-cut chances after the second Geremi chance.

The result leaves Newcastle in 19th place with just two points from six games, while Blackburn are riding high in sixth.