London: Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes were sent off as Manchester United were beaten 2-0 at Fulham on Saturday, tightening the Premier League title race by losing in consecutive matches for the first time in four years.
Chelsea, though, missed a chance to close the gap on the leaders, losing 1-0 at Tottenham to remain four points adrift.
Man United's lead could still be cut to a point on Sunday if Liverpool beats fifth-place Aston Villa, although the defending champions will have a game in hand.
"If you lose games in March and April it can cost you," United manager Alex Ferguson said.
"Fortunately, we have a slender lead at the moment but it's not a lot.
"I'm hoping the players go on internationals and come back back to their best for the game against Aston Villa (on April 5) which is going to be crucial."
The Red Devils, beaten 4-1 at home to Liverpool last week, lost Scholes in the 18th minute when he used his hands to block Bobby Zamora's shot on the goal line.
Danny Murphy gave former side Liverpool's title bid a huge help by dispatching the penalty into the top corner.
Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer kept Fulham in the match before Zoltan Gera added a second goal with an acrobatic volley in the 87th.
With the defending champions about to lose their first match at Craven Cottage since 1964, Rooney was shown a second yellow card for throwing the ball away in the 89th.
"The ball was thrown direct to where the free kick was being taken. Did it hit the referee? No," Ferguson said. "He threw it because he wanted to get the game going."
Rooney had started on the bench after last week's 4-1 loss to Liverpool.
"We've always responded in the past (to bad results), and the disappointing thing for me is that in the first half we never even got started," said Ferguson, whose side routed Fulham 4-0 two weeks ago in the FA Cup. "We didn't meet the challenge."
Neither did Chelsea as Guus Hiddink lost for the first time in his eight-match reign at White Hart Lane.
Luka Modric struck into the bottom corner of Peter Cech's goal from the outside of the area five minutes after the break for Spurs' second league win over their London rival since 1990.
Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was vital in protecting the win, saving from John Terry late on, while the crossbar denied Alex an equalizer deep into injury time.
"We won't give up on the title, but today was an ideal opportunity to close the gap on Manchester United and we missed it," Hiddink said. "These are the days you look back on and regret very much when you are in a title race.
"We cannot afford to drop two or three points in any game if we want to catch United, and today we have lost — it's a huge blow."
Arsenal maintained its grip on the fourth Champions League spot with a 3-1 win at Newcastle after a 10-minute goal spree.
Nicklas Bendtner headed Arsenal ahead in the 57th after latching onto Andrei Arshavin's free kick, but Obafemi Martins leveled within seconds of the restart after William Gallas botched a clearance.
The Gunners restored their lead by exploiting the absence of defender Steven Taylor, who was receiving treatment on the sidelines. Abou Diaby played a one-two with Robin van Persie before firing past onrushing goalkeeper Steve Harper.
There was no way back for Newcastle after Samir Nasri was released by Van Persie in the 67th and the France midfielder beat Harper at the near post.
The Magpies dropped into the relegation zone as Stoke moved out with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, which stays second from bottom.
Having won just one of its last 13 league matches, Portsmouth boosted its prospects of avoiding relegation with a 2-1 victory over Everton.
Peter Crouch scored with two headers after Leighton Baines put Everton ahead with a 4th-minute free kick, and Blackburn salvaged a 1-1 draw against West Ham.
West Bromwich Albion moved closer to the League Championship despite a late own-goal from Bolton defender Danny Shittu giving the last-placed club a 1-1 draw.
Also Sunday, Hull is at Wigan and Manchester City hosts Sunderland.
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