Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan were the major beneficiaries as the balance of power in Europe's elite leagues shifted thanks to a series of shock results. France was far from immune to the scares and upsets, but with Lyon and Nancy's discomfort confined to the cup, we focus on the scorelines that left Manchester United, Real Madrid, Roma, Werder Bremen and Chelsea licking their wounds and surveying the damage to their respective title bids.

Read on as FIFA.com takes you through the thrills and spills of an extraordinary weekend of Euopean action.

Premier League: Spurs sting Red Devils
Arsenal had their North London rivals to thank for returning to the top of the Premier League on Saturday, this after Tottenham Hotspur had proved more than a match for Manchester United. Spurs, with Michael Dawson and debutant Alan Hutton excelling, looked set for all three points when Dimitar Berbatov fired them ahead in 21 minutes, but Alex Ferguson's side never know when they're beaten and, with four minutes of stoppage time played, Carlos Tevez directed the ball past Radek Cerny to rescue a barely deserved share of the spoils.

Elsewhere, Arsenal were also indebted to a former Spurs for denting Chelsea's title bid, Jermain Defoe scoring on his Portsmouth debut to claim a 1-1 draw and end Chelsea's nine-game winning streak. The Gunners themselves still had to take full advantage, of course, and they duly obliged, with Eduardo da Silva and an Emanuel Adebayor double sealing a 3-1 win over Manchester City.

Top three: Arsenal (60 points), Manchester United (58), Chelsea (54)
Bottom three: Birmingham (21 points), Fulham (19), Derby County (9)
Top scorers: Ronaldo (19 goals), Adebayor (18), Benjani (12)
Weekend stat: By starting Arsenal's victory over Manchester City, Jens Lehmann made his first Premiership appearance since 19 August 2007.

La Liga: Almeria revive Barça's hopes
This weekend witnessed the biggest shock of the Spanish season as Almeria claimed a 2-0 win over Real Madrid to inject fresh life into the Primera Liga title race. Juanito's 15th-minute opener and a second half penalty from Alvaro Negredo sealed Real's fate and handed Barcelona, in action the following day, the perfect chance to reduce the gap at the top to six points.

However, for 88 minutes of the Catalans' match with Osasuna, it appeared that they would contrive to pass up the opportunity in front of an expectant but increasingly frustrated Camp Nou crowd. Their agony lasted until two minutes from time, when substitute Xavi - who had been on the field just six minutes - popped up to rifle home a dramatic winner and spark scenes of unbridled joy. The relief in Barcelona was only matched by that in Valencia, where under-fire Ronald Koeman received some much-needed respite in the shape of a 2-0 win at Valladolid.

Top three: Real Madrid (53 points), Barcelona (47), Espanyol (39)
Bottom three: Real Murcia (23 points), Recreativo Huelva (22), Levante (13)
Top scorers: Luis Fabiano (16 goals), Milito (14), Van Nistelrooy (12)
Weekend stat: Mata and David Villa's goals at Vallodolid gave Ronald Koeman's Valencia their first win in 10 league matches.

Bundesliga: Bochum boost Bayern's bid
A weekend that threatened to start in the worst possible fashion for Bayern Munich ended with the Bavarian giants toasting a three-point lead at the league's summit. Goals from Franck Ribery and Luca Toni had given Ottmar Hitzfeld's team a 2-0 lead in Rostock in the Friday evening fixture, but they endured a nervy second half after Enrico Kern reduced the deficit and were mightily relieved to emerge with all three points.

By Sunday, that relief had turned to joy when news filtered through of ten-man Werder Bremen's shock 2-1 defeat to struggling VfL Bochum. Bremen had looked odds-on to restore parity at the top of the Bundesliga when Danish striker Daniel Jensen opened the scoring just before half-time, but when Benjamin Auer's 68th-minute equaliser was swiftly followed by a red card for Naldo, the way became clear for Anthar Yahia to seal an unexpected win with six minutes remaining.

Top three: Bayern Munich (39 points), Werder Bremen (36), Bayer Leverkusen (33)
Bottom three: Nuremberg (15 points), Energie Cottbus (15), MSV Duisburg (14)
Top scorers: Van der Vaart, Toni (10 goals), Diego, Klose (9)
Weekend stat: While Werder were left to pay the price for Naldo's moment of indiscipline, Bayern can reflect with pride on having collected fewer cautions (23) than any other Bundesliga club this season.

Serie A: Roma back to square one
If Roma had interpreted Inter's rare slip at Udinese last week as a sign that their fortunes were finally beginning to turn, they endured a rude awakening this weekend. The capital club might have felt that things couldn't get any worse after losing 3-0 at struggling Siena on Saturday, but if so, they had reckoned without their ten-man title rivals digging out a hard-fought and decidedly fortuitous 1-0 win over Empoli.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic secure the points from the penalty spot with his 14th Serie A goal of the season, but even Roberto Mancini admitted that Ighli Vannucchi had been harshly punished for handling when the ball had, in fact, struck the defender's face. Patrick Vieira saw red shortly after for contesting an earlier yellow card but Roma's weekend from hell was complete when Empoli wasted a late penalty of their own, Julio Cesar expertly saving Luca Saudati's spot kick.

Top three: Inter Milan (53 points), Roma (45), Juventus (41)
Bottom three: Reggina (18 points), Empoli (16), Cagliari (14)
Top scorers: Trezeguet (15 goals), Ibrahimovic (14), Mutu (13)
Weekend stat: The red card picked up by Patrick Vieira in Inter's 1-0 win over Empoli was the third dished out to a Nerazzurri player in the club's last four competitive matches.

Elsewhere
Panathinaikos celebrated their centenary in perfect style, capitalising on slips by title rivals Olympiakos and AEK Athens to move top of the Greek Super League. A 2-0 win over Asteras Tripolis on the 100th anniversary of the club's birth was enough to secure top spot after Olympiakos lost 1-0 away to Apollon Kalamarias and AEK crashed to a 3-2 defeat to Athens rivals Panionios. It could hardly be any tighter at the top, however, with Panathinaikos on 43 points followed by AEK on 42 and Olympiakos on 41.

In the Netherlands, meanwhile, Klaas Jan Huntelaar was Ajax's hero once again, the striker's clinically-taken brace securing a resounding 3-0 win for the Amsterdam giants over old rivals Feyenoord on Sunday. Nevertheless, Huntelaar and Co still face a daunting task in attempting to catch runaway leaders PSV. With 11 matches of the Eredivisie season remaining, the Eindhoven outfit - 2-0 winners at AZ Alkmaar on Saturday - lead Ajax by eight points, with Heerenveen a further point back in third.