THE OBSERVER
This result will surely have teased some extra action from Sir Alex Ferguson's posterior. The United manager, who describes April and May as 'squeaky-bum time', ended the match with his team playing 4-2-4, yet they just could not find the win to re-establish the six-point lead over Chelsea they had woken up to. When Rio Ferdinand turned the ball past Edwin van der Sar in the 89th minute to confirm this loss, it proved a comedic moment only for those not associated with Old Trafford. Ferguson's men are next to play in the Premiership, when the two title challengers resume following their respective Champions League and FA Cup ties, on 17 April, a day earlier than the west London club. So the advantage could yet be two clear wins again by the time John Terry and Co kick off at West Ham. But now, the meeting between the two in London on 9 May becomes an occasion to please any lover of the game.
As well as battling for the title, Chelsea and United are both bidding to rewrite the record books. While a repeat of United's FA Cup, Champions League and Premiership treble in 1999 would double the bragging rights of their supporters, it is Jose Mourinho's team that has a tilt at ultimate glory. No club, of course, has ever managed a sweep of the four major trophies available at the season's start. With the Carling Cup already secured, triumph in the remaining three competitions would secure an immortality that would allow smugness in west London for generations.
This possibility, however improbable, might just be starting to register with Sir Alex Ferguson and could have been a factor in his outrage at Spurs having just 36 hours to recover from their Uefa Cup tie in Seville. The manager also cited Europe for his own team's result, after they had flown into the South Coast direct from their own travails in Rome. 'We came off a Champions League tie which is difficult at the best of times,' Ferguson said. 'But we played there with 10 men for an hour and I think that caught us.'
He began with Ryan Giggs on the bench and a fluid 4-3-3 formation that had Wayne Rooney flanked by the disappointing Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson against a Portsmouth team that had won only once in their previous nine league outings. It was United, though, who felt the pressure of a rare kick-off time later than their title rivals. And the longer the lead provided by Matthew Taylor's 30th-minute strike stood, the more desperate they became.
Ferguson's last throw was the replacement of Michael Carrick for another attacker, Alan Smith. But the end was as frantic as United's overall performance, and Ferdinand's anger at his back pass beyond his keeper was also at the title race coming alive. O'Shea pulled one back that was no consolation and when the final whistle sounded, to the home fans' relief, the Pompey roar could be heard in the Blue part of the capital.
THE INDIE
Game on, chase on. Exactly a week after Chelsea were 60 seconds from throwing in the championship towel at Watford, they found themselves flying the blue flag in celebration as Manchester United failed to match the champions' eighth successive victory. So the gap is reduced to three points with six games to play, one of them the penultimate fixture of the season between the two contenders at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 9 May. United remain 17 goals better off, but they will take little consolation from that after losing a Premiership match for the first time since 21 January, at Arsenal.
Chelsea had recently won here comfortably enough but United, for all their possession and scoring chances, found Portsmouth defiantly obdurate opposition, roared on as usual by their famously raucous followers in the Premiership's most outdated stadium. Not until added time could United find a way through, by which time they were two goals down on a ghastly evening for England's Rio Ferdinand, who reacted too slowly for the first of them and then put the second into his own net. His uncertainty seemed to spread throughout the back four, where Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic were badly missed.
Harry Redknapp's side, unable to live up to their autumn promise, had scored in only two of the previous eight games. But Benjani Mwaruwari and the unpredictable Nwankwo Kanu revelled in the visitors' discomfort and Portsmouth had heroes aplenty, notably Linvoy Primus at the back, Matthew Taylor in midfield and - apart from one late slip - David James in goal.
The fact that Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho have both moaned over the past week about the fixture list tends to confirm that in the end, TV coverage inconveniences just about every club in equal measure. There was a clear advantage to Chelsea yesterday in playing earlier in the day and meeting a travel-weary Tottenham, but for the next two sets of matches, United play first. They will expect to defeat Sheffield United at Old Trafford on Tuesday week, the night before Chelsea face what suddenly looks a tricky task at West Ham.
Before that, there is the little matter of a Champions' League quarter-final for both sides, neither of whom won the first leg. Ferguson may have erred in initially leaving out Ryan Giggs with Roma's visit in mind, though he felt the effect of playing with 10 men in Italy after Paul Scholes' early dismissal in midweek was more relevant. "I think that caught us up today," he said. "The first 20 minutes of the second half we were fantastic, but then we got stretched. The players have shown character all season and I expect them to recover. We're still ahead by three points with a better goal-difference and if you'd offered me that at the start of the season we would possibly have been happy with it." Note the use of "possibly".
Portsmouth having won only once in the League since Boxing Day - also against Manchester opposition - it was something of a shock when they went ahead after 30 minutes. Benjani hit a fierce, swerving shot from 25 yards that Edwin van der Sar could not hold and Taylor, ever the adventurous midfielder, followed up more attentively than Ferdinand to jab in the rebound.
Towards half-time, however, they might have suffered further damage. Primus headed a corner over the bar and in added time, John O'Shea, Wes Brown and the goalkeeper almost let in Taylor for a goal that would have left Sir Alex incandescent.
He was understandably not impressed with Richardson, pulling him off at half-time and sending on Giggs as Ronaldo reverted to the wing. The change almost paid spectacular dividends straight from the kick-off, Giggs sending Rooney through to beat James, only to be wrongly flagged offside. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then replaced Fletcher, whereupon United discovered a furious new momentum. James had to save from Ronaldo, Taylor blocking Brown's follow-up; Giggs, set up by Rooney, brought an even better stop by the keeper, who then held Brown's header.
SUNDAY TIMES
The moon, according to Jose Mourinho, would be where Manchester United lost the points that let Chelsea truly contend for the title. If Fratton Park has oft taken on a lunar aspect for United in recent years, yesterday it brought the League leaders crashing back to earth.
A group of men who had won just one Premiership fixture this year suddenly raised their game, went after the Reds, and terminated their run of seven domestic wins. From being a luxuriously cushioned six points up on Chelsea in the morning, United were down to a fretful three with their pursuers still to face.
A deliberately weakened lineup, some unintentionally fragile defending, and Portsmouth's refusal to simply watch and wait for defeat were to blame. Matthew Taylor claimed the decisive goal, exploiting errors by Edwin van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand.
This was the day Mourinho had been waiting for. A conspiratorially rare Saturday on which his team could play — and win — their Premiership fixture and leave Manchester United "shaking" at their points advantage being trimmed to three.
Never one to cradle aspersions lightly, Sir Alex Ferguson had offered his own conspiracy theory, querying the League's refusal to offer additional recovery time to Tottenham ahead of their fruitless visit to Stamford Bridge.
Best not to mention that his own opponents were hardly at the height of their powers. Unaccustomedly safe from relegation early in the season, Portsmouth had been on the wane for months. Shorn of their pace-making midfielder by Pedro Mendes' season-ending injury, Pompey had won just once in 10 outings. The home team were further impaired ahead of kick-off as Sol Campbell failed a test of his often troublesome Achilles. Ferguson's sense of assurance, meanwhile, was reflected in a voluntary weakening of his team. Sent to the bench were Ryan Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; into the side came the recently recovered Darren Fletcher and the rarely risked Kieran Richardson.
The reshuffle also meant an unusual attacking shape for the visitors with Wayne Rooney pushed fully forward as the lead striker and Cristiano Ronaldo left to roam free behind his fellow purveyor of genius. The opening minutes, however, were more about frustration as Ronaldo first dropped deep to demand passes he did not receive, then pushed up full against the centre backs to no more effect. It was Pompey who were claiming more dangerous territory, pushing for position around the United area, then seeing Kanu loop a header under the crossbar but into Edwin van der Sar's hands. As the game opened out, Ronaldo inevitably entered it. A 35-yard free kick twisted past David James's right upright, then a typically liquid run took the forward past Linvoy Primus and into position to shoot to the same spot. Sixty seconds later, Paul Scholes's quality with the long ball sent Ronaldo into the area and the Pompey defence scrambling. Knocked off balance, the Portuguese shuffled the ball onto Rooney, who was thwarted only by the tip of Primus's toe. Finding their fluidity, United were also finding the heavier end of Portsmouth boots. One foul on Richardson allowed Ronaldo to set the left winger free in the area for a brutally wasted shot.
A far greater indignity was on its way. On the half-hour mark, Richardson chested a loose ball down a few yards outside his area, but with insufficient precision to retain control. Sean Davis nicked it off him and filtered it on to Benjani Mwaruwari for an immediate strike. Though the Zimbabwean's shot was hard and direct, Van der Sar should have parried comfortably. Instead the goalkeeper flipped it out into his six-yard box, allowing Matthew Taylor to slide in for the opener. If Van der Sar was clearly culpable he could share that blame with the negligently back-tracking Ferdinand.
THE TELEGRAPH
Sir Alex Ferguson has suffered some of the most humiliating defeats of his Manchester United career down on the South Coast. Remember the 6-3 thumping by Southampton at the old Dell, where they regularly got turned over and where Fergie blamed another thrashing on his team's grey shirts?
But nothing will have left him more wounded than this unexpected defeat in the old naval headquarters of Portsmouth, remarkably their third in four visits to Fratton Park, which might just have holed his Premiership title hopes below the water line.
It was a title that many had begun to believe was the old man's destiny.
Now Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will feel it his and that, once again, the title race has taken a decisive turn over the Easter weekend. For weeks, Chelsea have played under the pressure of having to match United results earlier in the day or 24 hours earlier, yet the first time the roles were reversed, United worryingly failed to respond.
United met nothing but fierce resistance from the heart of oak Pompey players and did not display enough of their own until it was too late.
Now it is Fergie who has to issue the command of steady, boys, steady, to a side whose season could be on the brink of imploding. One day, you can be dreaming of the treble, the next standing by an empty trophy cabinet wondering where it all went wrong. Just ask Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Chelsea's Mourinho said last week that he was sure United would slip up in the title race, predicting that they would "lose three points to Chelsea and three to the moon."
Well this defeat, against a team who had only won one of their previous 10, was such a shock that it was a surprise there was not a lunar eclipse over this ramshackle old stadium at the final whistle.
The smallest of consolations for United lies in the goals for and against column that shows them with a vastly superior goal difference to Chelsea, which means that even if they lose at Stamford Bridge in the penultimate game of the season, they can hang on to take the title by the equivalent of a photo finish. But unless Ferguson can revive a side looking as though this long, hard season is finally beginning to take its toll on them, they could be out of it before their trip to West London.
You could sense the eagerness with which United continually tried to work the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, the way Arsenal always used to look to Thierry Henry. But Wayne Rooney, who should have been booked for a first half dive, had the ball stolen off him by Leroy Primus when in a perfect scoring position.
The chances kept flowing at either end after the break before Ferdinand rolled a back pass past Van Der Sar with a minute to go. Still there was time for more drama, John O'Shea scoring after a fumble by James from Ronaldo's shot and Solskjaer, the man who specialises in injury time goals, firing another chance over the top. Then, right on the whistle, James redeemed himself with a great save from substitute Alan Smith.