Chelsea fall to brilliant Boro

Chelsea FC were consigned to only their second defeat in the Premiership this season as Middlesbrough FC turned around their recent poor form to stun the leaders with a 3-0 victory.

Rare defeat
Goals from Fábio Rochemback, Stewart Downing and Yakubu Ayegbeni meant that Chelsea succumbed to only their third league reverse in 64 games since José Mourinho became coach. Manchester United FC made the most of their chance to close the gap at the top of the table, reducing Chelsea's lead to 12 points with victory over Portsmouth FC. Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo added to Ruud van Nistelrooij's 18th-minute opener for the visitors in a 3-1 win.

Arsenal saved
Third-placed Liverpool FC returned to winning ways after three consecutive games without a victory. The European Champions managed a 1-0 victory at Wigan Athletic FC – the only goal coming from defender Sami Hyypiä on the half-hour. Fellow UEFA Champions League hopefuls Arsenal FC lost further ground on the leaders however, needing a last-minute goal from Gilberto to salvage a point at home to Bolton Wanderers FC. Kevin Nolan thought he had scored the winner after 12 minutes as Sam Allardyce’s side were denied the chance to leapfrog their opponents in the league standings.

Blue heaven
Everton FC continued their recent upturn in fortunes and are now six Premiership games without defeat after a 1-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers FC. Despite playing with ten-men for the majority of the game, after goalkeeper Iain Turner was dismissed, James Beattie’s first-half header proved good enough. Newcastle United FC also got a valuable three points, prevailing 2-1 at ten-man Aston Villa FC with Charles N'zogbia scoring the decider.

West Brom woe
The biggest win of the afternoon came from Fulham FC, who gained an important victory over relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion FC 6-1. Heidar Helguson was the London side's hat-trick hero as defeat for the visitors left them just six points above 18th-placed Birmingham City.