Soccer Source Saturday Soccer Summary: Man U Go Down

An early goal by Nicolas Anelka was enough to get Bolton an historic home victory against Manchester United, their first since 1979. It was only United's second loss in the Premiership this season (the other came Aug. 19 in the Manchester derby) and third overall (Coventry in the League Cup was the other). With Arsenal squeezing out a late victory today against a surprisingly stubborn Wigan, it means Sir Alex' squad are two games behind Gunners in the loss column (to get all American on you. It means they're three points behind and Arsenal has a game on hand). The loss is sure to have consequences in my Top 25 as well, where Man. U were third in the most recent ranking.

Elsewhere in the Top 25, #1 Inter Milan is winning against Atalanta Bergamo, 2-1 and #8 Barcelona are scoreless at halftime.

Among completed games, #6 Chelsea beat Derby, though not without some difficulty and without scoring anywhere near the 10 goals I had anticipated. #10 Lyon came through with an impressive win at Rennes, #11 Bayern Munich returned to the win column, polishing off Wolfsburg 2-1, fellow Bundesliga side #12 Werder Bremen, #14 Roma, #18 Olympiakos and #20 Celtic all won their games. #21 Dynamo Zagreb managed only a 1-1 draw at NK Medjimurje, one of the world's most storied franchises. (Yeah right. Name one of their players without looking it up. Or for that matter, tell me where they even play). #24 Rangers had no problem at Falkirk, winning 3-1.

Some late games will follow this afternoon, with the rest taking place tomorrow. Based on all the above victories, the other teams will have plenty of pressure to step up and hold serve. If they do (or even if they don't) you can expect Man U to drop a few spots.