Boro put the boot into complacent Chelsea

The champions suffered heaviest defeat under Mourinho as Middlesbrough pulled off the biggest shock of the season.

Chelsea suffered their heaviest defeat under Jose Mourinho as relegation-threatened Middlesbrough pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the season.

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Goals from Fabio Rochemback, Stewart Downing and Aiyegbeni Yakubu fired Boro to a 3-0 win that earned Steve McClaren's side some precious breathing space in their battle for top-flight survival.

It was the champions' second Premiership defeat of the season and only their third in the league since Mourinho took over in the summer of 2004.

Despite the slip-up, Chelsea retain a 12-point cushion over nearest rivals Manchester United, who won 3-1 at Portsmouth, and it would take an extraordinary collapse for Mourinho's men to lose the title with only 12 matches left to play.

Mourinho admitted that a degree of complacency may have crept into his side's approach to the match.

"Maybe because we can make some mistakes our concentration and the way we approached the game was not the best," he acknowledged.

Elswehere on Saturday, Ruud van Nistelrooy's 22nd goal of the season and a first-half double from Cristiano Ronaldo gave United a comfortable win at Fratton Park that leaves Portsmouth eight points from safety.

It was the second time in a week that Ronaldo had scored twice in a match and United manager Sir Alex Ferguson challenged the Portugal winger to keep his run of form going.

"He should be scoring more goals. He's capable of getting 15-20 (in a season), without question."

Reflecting on the match as a whole, Ferguson said: "It was a very good first-half, but we got careless in the second-half and, in fairness to Portsmouth, they never gave in and that gives them a chance."

Matt Taylor headed in a late consolation goal for Pompey as United eased off after the break.

And Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp insisted the way his team had fought back in the second-half meant they could avoid the drop.

"We showed terrific character in the second-half. We've done it before (avoided relegation) when I was here two years ago. It's still all to play for. We can still get out of trouble."

Third-placed Liverpool are 18 points adrift of Chelsea with a game in hand after their 1-0 lunchtime win over Wigan.

Sami Hyypia allowed the Reds to end their recent poor run of form with the only goal of the Lancashire derby.

Rafael Benitez's side, who had taken just one point from their previous four Premiership outings, were far from back to their best.

But they never looked like relinquishing control after Hyypia connected with a Jamie Carragher free-kick on the half-hour mark, Wigan's chances of an equaliser dampened by the absence of first-choice strikers Jason Roberts and Henri Camara.

"It was an important win for us after some defeats," said Benitez. "We've got some important games coming up and this result will not do us any harm."

Bolton were denied a hat-trick of victories over Arsenal this season when Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva snatched an injury-time equaliser at Highbury.

Kevin Nolan's deft first-half flick with the outside of his boot appeared to have settled the encounter in the visitors' favour.

But, in the third minute of injury time, Silva volleyed in a Mathieu Flamini cross to earn the Gunners a point in a match that was marred by the lunge from Bolton midfielder Abdoulaye Faye which resulted in Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes being stretchered off, with a suspected broken leg.

"It was a very bad tackle," Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger complained. "It looked to me like one of his feet was over the ball."

Ten-man Newcastle held on for a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, their second consecutive victory since former manager Graeme Souness was sacked.

Shola Ameobi's early strike was cancelled out by the on-form Villa forward Luke Moore, but Charles N'Zogbia slotted in a rebound after a shot by former Villa player Nolberto Solano to win the game.

Newcastle had Celestine Babayaro sent-off for a foul on Milan Baros but the Czech striker's subsequent penalty was saved by Shay Given and Newcastle held out to the final whistle.

Everton performed even greater heroics with ten men, beating Blackburn 1-0 after having goalkeeper Iain Turner red-carded in the ninth minute, for handling outside his area.

James Beattie pinched the points for David Moyes's side by heading in a Mikel Arteta free-kick just before half-time.

Fulham hammered hapless West Brom 6-1 at Craven Cottage with Heidar Helguson and substitute Collins John scoring two each. Fulham's other goals came from Canadian forward Tomasz Radzinski and an own goal by West Brom's Curtis Davies. Kevin Campbell got West Brom's only goal.