Last Wednesday morning, Juventus were eight points clear of AC Milan and 15 clear of third-placed Internazionale and looking unstoppable in the race for the Scudetto.

However, following Wednesday night's defeat at home to Sampdoria and Saturday's slip-up at Palermo, thanks to a Franco Brienza strike, the Milan clubs will both consider themselves back in the race.

AC Milan will trim the lead to two points if they beat Lazio on Sunday evening while third-placed Internazionale could move within nine points by defeating Parma earlier in the day.

Juve coach Fabio Capello will be eager to stop the rot next week in what could be a tough home fixture with Udinese.

The Sicilians started the match well and after 12 minutes they scored what would prove to be the only goal.

Eugenio Corini took a free-kick which was punched out by Gianluigi Buffon to Brienza, who fired home from the edge of the box.

After 26 minutes Juve threatened for the first time but Palermo goalkeeper Matteo Guardalben saved well from Ruben Olivera's deflected free-kick.

After 31 minutes, the visitors from Turin appealed in vain for a penalty after Gianluca Zambrotta tumbled under a challenge from Massimo Mutarelli.

Palermo hit back and four minutes later Andrea Barzagli headed a Corini free-kick wide of the mark.

Just before the interval, Olivera fired another free-kick just over the bar.

In the second half Juventus were first to threaten when Emerson found his former Roma team-mate Jonathan Zebina whose shot was wide of the mark.

At the other end Buffon had to be on top of his game after 57 minutes when he saved well from a diagonal shot from Fabio Grosso.

A goalmouth scramble at the other end almost saw Juventus equalise after an hour but Guardalben made a reflex save from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The impressive Brienza could have got another just a minute later when he beat two Juventus players but watched his shot well blocked by Buffon.

The ball rebounded to Simone Barone who could only fire into the sidenetting.

Sixteen minutes from the end Palermo almost gifted Juve an equaliser when Corini mis-hit his clearance from a Marcelo Zalayeta cross but Guardalben managed to tip the ball over.

Five minutes later, Stefano Morrono created a chance for Mario Alberto Santana who lobbed Buffon but watched the ball go wide.

Ibrahimovic was lucky to escape a red card for an awful foul on Santana but four minutes from the end Juve nearly equalised when Manuele Blasi shot from the edge of the area only for a deflection to spare the Palermo goal.

Palermo managed to hang on for the three points that lifted them to sixth - a creditable position for Francesco Guidolin's side who are back in Serie A for the first time since the 1970s.