Chelsea moving on up

New leaders sit proudly on top of the respective leagues of England, Italy and Spain after a weekend of crucial domestic fixtures saw several pacesetters suffer surprise setbacks.

Chelsea on top
In England, Chelsea FC, chasing only the second championship in their history, moved to the top of the Premiership with a significant 1-0 victory against champions Manchester United FC at Stamford Bridge. Starting their match a matter of minutes after leaders Arsenal FC's home game with Fulham FC had finished goalless, Chelsea took full advantage of the slip by defeating Sir Alex Ferguson's side, usurping the north London outfit from top spot by virtue of Frank Lampard's 29th-minute penalty.

Topsy-turvy Inter
Internazionale FC's topsy-turvy season continued when they bounced back from their UEFA Champions League humbling to inflict a first Serie A defeat of the season on Juventus FC at the Stadio Delle Alpi.

Champions taken apart
Inter had been defeated 5-1 by a rampant Arsenal in midweek but regrouped to take apart the Italian champions, who slip to third in the standings. Julio Cruz put Alberto Zaccheroni's side on the road to the 3-1 victory with a brilliant 12th-minute free-kick and doubled his tally with a second on 67 minutes. As the clock ran down, Obafemi Martins scored his fourth goal of the season to further increase the visitors' lead before Paolo Montero scored a last-minute consolation for Juventus.

Advantage to Roma and Milan
Undefeated title rivals AS Roma and AC Milan now enjoy a one-point advantage over Juventus thanks to 3-1 and 2-0 home victories against US Lecce and Modena FC respectively.

Valencia hold on
Valencia CF returned to the top of Spain's Primera División after holding on to defeat Real Zaragoza 3-2 at the Mestalla. Rafael Benítez's side collected all three goals in the first half against Zaragoza but almost threw the game away after the interval by conceding twice.

López opener
Jorge López opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a left-foot strike, then Vicente Rodríguez doubled the lead by combining with the impressive Pablo Aimar, who collected the third on the cusp of half-time. Valencia, however, relaxed in the second period and almost paid the price as David Vílla pulled one back in the 49th minute and Rubén Cani was on target late on.

Deportivo miss their chance
Last week's leaders Real Madrid CF were held to a 1-1 draw by CA Osasuna at El Sadar and RC Deportivo La Coruña missed the chance to go top when they were undone by a late winner in their home game against Villarreal CF.

Business as usual
But it was business as usual in many other leading countries. VfB Stuttgart remained two points clear at the head of the German Bundesliga, AFC Ajax restored their four-point lead over PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch First Division on Sunday thanks to a 2-0 defeat of arch-rivals Feyenoord and a solitary goal from Lucas Bernardi ensured AS Monaco FC moved six points clear in France.