Nine-men Manchester United crashed at Fulham in a 2-0 defeat while contenders Liverpool were also upset 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur, giving Premier League title race more twists towards the end.
Leaders United suffered a rare second successive loss, after last week's 4-1 drubbing at home to Liverpool, with Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney both sent off in either half.
Scholes saw red after 18 minutes for handling Bobby Zamora's header on the line and Danny Murphy put Fulham ahead from the penalty spot. Rooney was also dismissed on a second booking for throwing the ball towards the referee seconds after Zoltan Gera made it 2-0 with four minutes remaining.
Second-placed Chelsea wasted a chance to narrow the gap as Luka Modric's 50-minute strike, combined with keeper Heurelho Gomes' brilliant saves, ended Blues coach Guus Hiddink's 100 percent record in the league since taking over in February.
United still lead the table on 65 points, but their first back- to-back defeats since 2005 could gift Liverpool, level with Chelsea on 61 points, an opportunity to reduce United's advantage to one point if they beat Aston Villa on Sunday.
Arsenal consolidated fourth place and have opened up a three- point lead in the battle for the final Champions League berth after a 3-1 victory at Newcastle United, who slipped into the drop zone.
In the other end of the table, Stoke climbed out of the bottom three with a vital 1-0 home victory over struggling Middlesbrough while Portsmouth eased relegation worries by beating Everton 2-1 at home thanks to two Peter Crouch headers.
West Bromwich Albion came from behind for a 1-1 draw against Bolton but looked rooted in the bottom place. Blackburn and West Ham shared the spoils at Ewood Park in a 1-1 draw.
It was tough for United to battle with two-person shortage but Fulham fully deserved their first home win over United in 45 years.
Former Fulham keeper Van der Sar did well to keep out Zamora's header from a corner, but the rebound came straight back to the striker and as he nodded towards goal, Scholes instinctively put his arms up.
Before half-time, Roy Hodgson's men tested Van der Sar's goal with 10 shots while limiting the opposition to just two.
United, apparently underprepared for the difficulty at Craven Cottage, were out of sorts and earned five bookings in total including Rooney's two. Their frustration was epitomised by Cristiano Ronaldo, who twice had to be warned by referee Phil Dowd for his petulant complaining and was booked for a reckless lunge at Murphy in the second half.
United came out fighting after the break but it turned out to be Fulham wrapping up victory through Gera. The Hungarian had his back to goal when collecting Johnson's cross but managed to flick the ball up before dispatching an acrobatic volley.
Seconds later came the outburst of Rooney, who threw the ball away when a free-kick was taken from the wrong place to pick up his second booking.
(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2009)
