Chelsea was stunned 3-0 by struggling Middlesbrough in the English Premier League on Saturday to record Jose Mourinho's heaviest loss as Blues manager.
Second-placed Manchester United trimmed the Blues' lead to 12 points by winning 3-1 at Portsmouth.
Goals by Brazilian midfielder Fabio Rochemback, England winger Stewart Downing and Nigerian striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu gave 'Boro -- beaten 4-0 at home by Aston Villa last week -- the upset of the season.
"When you lose, it is always a bad day, especially when you don't lose a lot of times," Mourinho said. "In my time at Chelsea, this is the third defeat in the Premiership and you can say it was the worst.
"We lost last season to Manchester City 1-0 and we didn't deserve it; we lost this season at Manchester United 1-0 and we didn't deserve it; we lost today 3-0 -- we deserved it."
Steve McClaren's 'Boro has also beaten Manchester United and Arsenal at home and, after its latest victory, climbed one place to 16th, a healthy eight points clear of the relegation zone.
"We got the goal early and it settled us down and give us something to fight for," McClaren said. "We defended very well and hit them on the break. We always looked dangerous."
Chelsea is still a runaway league leader, but Manchester United closed the gap with victory over next-to-last Portsmouth.
Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Red Devils ahead in the 18th minute at Portsmouth's Fratton Park and Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice before halftime.
Manchester United sent on Tim Howard for injured goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar for the second half and the American had a shaky time, Matt Taylor replying for Pompey with three minutes to go.
Sami Hyypia scored the only goal as Liverpool ended a run of three losses and a draw by winning 1-0 at Wigan.
Gilberto Silva equalized in the third minute of injury time for Arsenal to draw 1-1 at home to Bolton.
Everton edged Blackburn 1-0 despite playing for 81 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper Iain Turner was ejected for handling a back pass outside his area. James Beattie scored the only goal, in the 33rd minute.
Fulham beat West Bromwich Albion 6-1 with two goals each from Heidar Helguson and Collins John, and Newcastle won 2-1 at Aston Villa for its second victory in a row after manager Graeme Souness was fired.
Shola Ameobi's goal in the second minute put Newcastle on the road to victory at Villa Park and, after Luke Moore had made it five goals in three games for the home side, French forward Charles N'Zogbia struck again for the Magpies, who are being led temporarily by Glenn Roeder.
"It's great to score early," Roeder said. "You can never score too early and I think we needed that away from home because we haven't scored too many."
Finland centerback Hyypia struck in the 30th minute at the JJB Stadium as Liverpool held on to third place.
"I go up to set-pieces and I've waited to score a goal," said Hyypia, who hadn't scored for 10 months. "Of course my job is to keep clean sheets rather than score goals, but goals are a bonus, and today it was with my left foot as well."
It was yet another black day for Liverpool's strikeforce, however, despite Rafa Benitez' decision to start Robbie Fowler for the first time since his return from Manchester City. None of the current strikers at Anfield have scored during 2006.
Manager Paul Jewell said he was frustrated that Senegal striker Henri Camara had not returned from the African Nations Cup in Egypt, even though his team's last game was on Thursday.
"I don't know what the situation is," Jewell said. "He was booked on a flight yesterday. I don't want to say too much at the moment."
Hearts squandered a chance of trimming Celtic's standings lead to seven points when it lost 2-1 at home to Aberdeen.
Although Calum Elliot gave Hearts the lead in the ninth minute at Tynecastle, Jambos defender Steven Pressley turned a cross from Scott Severin into his own net in the 68th.
Chris Clark hit the winner for the visitor three minutes from the end as Aberdeen posted its first victory at Hearts since 1999.
Celtic is not in action until Sunday when it faces defending champion Rangers at Ibrox. Rangers are fourth, 18 points behind their Glasgow rival.
In other games, third place Hibernian was held 0-0 by Falkirk and next-to-last Dunfermline won 1-0 at Livingston thanks to Mark Burchill's strike in the 12th minute.
Motherwell beat Dundee United 2-0, while Inverness and Kilmarnock drew 3-3.
Robinho and substitute Raul Bravo scored and Real Madrid downed lowly Athletic Bilbao 2-0 to move into second place.
Madrid bounced back from its 6-1 thrashing by Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey semifinals on Wednesday and gained its first league victory at Bilbao's San Mames Stadium since the 1998-1999 season.
The win was Madrid's fifth straight in the league and lifted it to seven points behind leader FC Barcelona, which plays third-place Valencia in a standout clash today.
FC Barcelona has 52 points, and Madrid has 45, two more than Valencia and Osasuna.
In other 23rd-round games, Osasuna drew 1-1 with Zaragoza, while Sevilla crushed Cadiz 4-0 and rose to fifth place with 38 points.
Lazio extended Udinese's winless streak to eight matches in a 1-1 draw at Stadio Olimpico in Serie A.
Lazio striker Tommaso Rocchi was the hero and villain -- he scored with a header in the 20th minute off a long cross from Massimo Oddo for his ninth tally of the season, but fouled Jose Luis Vidigal to concede the penalty which Vincenzo Iaquinta converted in the 26th.
Lazio, coming off a 3-1 loss at Palermo in midweek, was eighth in the standings, while Udinese, whose last win was on Dec. 21, was 11th.
Simone Tiribocchi scored two goals to give Chievo Verona a 2-1 win over lowly Treviso and allow his team to keep a firm hold on seventh.
Udinese was less than impressive on the debut of new coaches Nestor Sensini and Loris Dominissini, who replaced dismissed Serse Cosmi on Friday.
Dominissini directed the team from the bench while Sensini, the Argentine veteran defender who played on the team until last week, sat in the stands passing orders from a mobile phone.
Lowly Kaiserslautern stunned Werder Bremen 2-0, allowing Hamburger SV to move into second place with a 1-0 win against Mainz 05.
Bremen wasted numerous chances before Boubacar Sanogo's 71st-minute header for 17th-placed Kaiserlautern. In the 88th, Erwin Skala netted a ricochet after a shot from Sanogo.
"I thought this can't be happening," Bremen 'keeper Tim Wiese said. "We had how many chances? Everything was played at their goal, then comes one cross and we let [Boubacar] head in unmarked."
No Bremen attacker has been able to convert scoring chances since Germany forward Miroslav Klose and his 16 goals was sidelined with an injured shoulder four weeks ago.
Hamburg has 44 points from 21 rounds, one more than Bremen. Bayern Munich, which leads with 51, hosts Nuremberg today.
Iranian Mehdi Mahdavikia scored in the sixth minute for Hamburg, finishing a solo run with a short-range shot that went in off the goalkeeper's chest.
Hamburg -- which had lost two of its past three matches -- has struggled with injuries, including Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
Sylvain Wiltord's goal in injury time helped Lyon to draw Lens 1-1 while Bordeaux cut Lyon's lead to seven points with a 2-0 victory over Rennes in the first division.
France international Wiltord fired in from the edge of the box to preserve Lyon's undefeated record in away games this season.
Eighth-placed Lens opened the scoring in the 56th minute on a curling shot by Brazilian Jussie off a cross by Seydou Keita.
Lyon, which is chasing a record fifth straight title, holds the top spot in the French championship.
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