Goals from Frank Lampard and John Terry had given us a 2-1 half-time lead, scoring either side of Robin van Persie's equaliser, before Andre Santos and Theo Walcott turned the game on its head to put the visitors in control.
Juan Mata then levelled things with a long-range cracker 10 minutes from time, only for Van Persie to capitalise on a Terry slip at the back to recapture the lead for Arsenal, and the Dutchman completed his hat-trick in injury time when the Gunners counter-attacked at pace with Chelsea committing men forward.
It means we suffer consecutive Premier League defeats having been beaten at QPR last weekend, leaving Villas-Boas frustrated but determined to turn things around. It was the first time Chelsea have conceded five since 2002, but the manager would not criticise his defence.
'You have to take two goals out of this situation, the perspective of our defensive shape, because one is a slip from a player which leaves another one against one with our keeper and is nothing to do with defensive organisation, and the other one is trying to do something with three minutes on the clock,' he said.
'Apart from that before this game we were [one of] the three best defences in the Premiership so I would argue with anyone that our defensive organisation was a problem before this game. We committed mistakes today that we will try to evolve and maybe we can improve for the game against Blackburn.'
Villas-Boas pinpointed major turning points in the game that turned the scoreline against us.
'In the first half we had a very good period of 15 minutes where we created a lot of chances,' said the 34-year-old. 'The two decisive moments of the game were the 15 minutes where we couldn't find the back of the net with the amount of chances we had, and at the end when we were trying to get the 4-3 we missed two chances, with Mata at the back post and again didn't find the back of the net and were punished by an unlucky situation which can happen, and Van Persie did his job like he usually does.
'Those are the two decisive moments of the game, a very open game and attack-minded game from both teams. Regarding the 5-3 I have nothing to say because we were trying to get the 4-4, we were unbalanced and eventually Arsenal made the most of the transition.'
We now look ahead to two away games in a week, at Genk in the Champions League and at Blackburn in the Premier League next weekend. Villas-Boas insists he will be changing nothing.
'The philosophy is a personal value and a club value. You should never sell it cheaply. It is something that makes us all proud and we will stick to this philosophy. It is our way of playing and we are proud of the way we play. We just have to correct things.
'In the Champions League the scenario is another one. We can get in a very good position if we win the game. We have a chance of qualifying if Leverkusen wins. It's a different situation.
'Regarding the Blackburn game it is two defeats in the Premiership and we have to bounce back with a win. We will have to find winning ways straight away.'