The win over Bournemouth gave the Blues a boost in their top-four ambitions.
After failing to score in three consecutive matches prior to the break for the World Cup, it took just 16 minutes for the Blues to get on the board.
Mason Mount celebrated his 150th appearance for the club in style, curling a superb effort into the bottom right corner of the Bournemouth net from the edge of the penalty area.
It got a nod of satisfaction from Graham Potter, who will have been pleased by the way his side played.
An effort by Christian Pulisic was ruled out after Havertz was judged to have committed a foul on Adam Smith.
The result saw the Blues move up to eighth in the table, six points adrift of fourth-spotted Spurs, while Bournemouth remained in the bottom half of the table.
The only negative in Potter's and Chelsea's evening came with the earlier-than- planned withdrawal of Reece James, seven minutes into the second period, on his return from the knee injury that ruled him out of the England squad forQatar.
The young man lay on the turf with his hands on his head before being treated and eventually walking off on his own.
Ryan Christie forced home goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga into a good save, but the Cherries didn't look capable of applying any late pressure.
Prior to the World Cup, a sequence of three consecutive top-flight defeats had raised questions over their direction of travel under Potter.
The opportunity to reset seemed to have worked in their favor.
There was a lot of movement in their play, particularly through the combinations that James, Mount and Jorginho provided, as well as the work that Havertz and Pulisic did up front.
Everything that right-back James produced was perfect.
His marauding runs down the right gaveChelsea an added dimension in attack, with only a good save from the visiting goalkeeper denying him a goal just before the break.
There's more to come.
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