Chelsea learned what other English Premier League teams already know: Fulham is tough to beat at home.
Despite struggling with relegation, Fulham stunned west London rival Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday at Craven Cottage. It was only Chelsea's third league loss in 30 games this season.
The loss, however, means little to Chelsea, which leads second-place Manchester United by 12 points. But the three points could save Fulham from going down.
"It's more than just the three points today," Fulham manager Chris Coleman said. "What better team to do it against than the champions of the country and the best team in the country."
Earlier Sunday, Peter Crouch, Steven Gerrard and Djibril Cisse scored in Liverpool's 3-1 victory over Newcastle, keeping the Reds two points behind Manchester United.
Luis Boa Morte got Fulham's winner in the 17th, scoring left-footed from close range off a deflected shot by teammate Steed Malbranque.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who has denied reports he may move to Inter Milan, quickly changed his starting lineup and pulled Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the 26th, replaced with Damien Duff and Didier Drogba.
It almost paid off.
Drogba appeared to have scored in the 59th when he drove a left-footed shot home. But the goal was disallowed when he was ruled to have handled the ball.
William Gallas was sent off in injury time after fouling Fulham forward Heidar Helguson on the sideline. The two teams then scuffled briefly.
Criticized for seldom giving other teams credit, Mourinho was gracious in defeat and congratulated Coleman.
"In the middle of being unhappy I can feel a little bit of happiness for Chris [Coleman] because he's a great guy, a great manager," Mourinho said.
Mourinho agreed that Drogba had handled the ball, but said referee Mike Dean only changed his mind after being pressured by Fulham players.
"The decision is correct, but they did it not because they saw it," Mourinho said. "They did it because of the pressure on them."
Manchester United has played one fewer game than Chelsea and could cut the lead to nine.
"I'm not worried with that," Mourinho said. "I think nine points with eight matches to go is a very comfortable situation for us."
Chelsea leads with 75 points, followed by Manchester United with 63 and Liverpool with 61. Liverpool has played two more games than Manchester United.
The next three in the standings are Tottenham with 52 points, Arsenal with 50 and Blackburn with 49.
The victory gave Fulham 35 points, 11 above the last teams in the relegation zone -- Birmingham City and Portsmouth.
The result left Fulham unbeaten in 12 of its 15 league home games this season. Fulham has not won in 16 away league games.
Liverpool dominated from the start and, except for brief moments late in the first half and early in the second, controlled the game at St. James' Park.
Crouch put the Reds ahead in the 10th minute, getting under a perfectly lobbed pass to put a bouncing header beyond Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given.
Gerrard make it 2-0 in the 35th. He controlled a long cross, dished it off, and then scored from 16m off the return pass.
Newcastle's Shola Ameobi made it 2-1 with a close-in header in the 41st.
Newcastle needed to get back into the match early in the second half. Instead, the Magpies went down 3-1 on Cisse's 52nd-minute penalty. He converted after Crouch was wrestled down in the area by Jean-Alain Boumsong.
The Frenchman was also given a red card on the play.
"After the sending off we were in control of the game," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said.
Tottenham, with second-half goals from Aaron Lennon and Robbie Keane, defeated Birmingham City 2-0. Arsenal kept pace with a 3-0 win over Charlton. Robert Pires, Emmanuel Adebayor and Aleksander Hleb scored.
Rivals in north London, Tottenham and Arsenal are fighting to finish fourth -- the final qualifying place for next season's Champions League.
Celtic picked up the first trophy of the season in Scottish soccer, beating Dunfermline 3-0 in the League Cup final at Hampden Park.
Dunfermline, 8-1 losers to Celtic in a league game earlier in the season, held off the Scottish Premier League leaders until Maciej Zurawski broke through in the 43rd minute.
Scotland international Shaun Maloney made it 2-0 in the 76th and Dion Dublin scored the final goal in second-half injury time.
Celtic players wore No. 7 on their shorts as a tribute the Jimmy "Jinky" Johnstone, who died last Monday at age 61 after a long battle with motor neuron disease.
Johnstone is regarded as Celtic's greatest player and was a member of the 1967 European Cup winning team.
In Sunday's only Premier League game, Rangers and Hearts drew 1-1 with both clubs still off the pace of leader Celtic.
Edgaras Jankauskas gave Hearts a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute, but Rangers equalized on Thomas Buffel's goal in the 65th.
Celtic leads with 73 points. Hearts have 59 with Rangers on 53. The next three clubs are Kilmarnock with 50, Hibernian with 49 and Aberdeen with 41.
Andriy Shevchenko scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season to help second-place AC Milan beat struggling Udinese 4-0 in the Serie A.
The loss dropped Udinese into 17th place, one point clear of the relegation zone.
Third-place Inter Milan remained two points behind its city rival with a 3-1 win over Lazio at the San Siro, where Alvaro Recoba scored twice.
Juventus won 3-1 at Livorno on Saturday and leads the standings with 77 points. Milan is next with 67 points, followed by Inter with 65.
Fourth-place Fiorentina rallied from a goal down to beat Ascoli 3-1 and improve to 59 points. AS Roma beat Messina 2-1 in the late match and remained one point behind Fiorentina in the race for Italy's final Champions League berth.
Also Sunday, it was: Chievo Verona 4, Siena 1; Lecce 1, Parma 2; Reggina 0, Empoli 2; and Sampdoria 0, Palermo 2.
Parma beat Lecce on goals by Australian Mark Bresciano and Fabio Simplicio in a game that was twice interrupted by flares thrown onto the field by disgruntled Lecce fans.
While Lecce seems destined for relegation, Empoli moved out of the relegation zone with its win at Reggina, where Francesco Tavano had an assist and his 15th goal of the season.
Real Madrid fell further behind league leader Barcelona, drawing 0-0 with Real Betis at home.
Ronaldo put a header wide in the 72nd minute in Madrid's best chance.
Valencia also lost ground on league leader FC Barcelona after losing to Racing Santander 2-1. Barcelona leads with 64 points, 11 more than Madrid. Valencia and Osasuna are next with 52 points.
Also Sunday, Sevilla drew 1-1 with Mallorca, Cadiz was held to a 0-0 draw by Alaves, Osasuna topped Espanyol 4-2, Athletic Bilbao won 1-0 against Celta Vigo, and Zaragoza beat Malaga 1-0.
Betis had reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup but was eliminated by Steaua Bucharest on Thursday.
Three goals in a dominant second half by Bayern Munich gave the club a 3-0 win against Schalke.
Hasan Salihamidzic, Claudio Pizarro and Roy Makaay led a concerted Bayern effort against the team with the league's best record since the winter break.
Bayern, which restored its six-point lead in the league, was fighting a three-match winless streak which had allowed Hamburger SV to close to three points on Saturday.
Hertha Berlin edged Bielefeld 1-0 to take sixth place.
Shota Arveladze scored the lone goal to give AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 win over Feyenoord.
Feyenoord now trails second-place AZ by one point.
FC Groningen rallied to beat Ajax 3-2 -- the first time the team has beaten Ajax at home in 18 years.
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