Danny Murphy fired home a penalty as Liverpool captured a surprise 1-0 victory at Manchester United on Saturday to strengthen its hold on fourth place and stop United moving up to second.
Gerard Houllier's men were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute after a foul by Gary Neville on Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard and Michael Owen had both missed spot kicks for Liverpool in recent games so Murphy showed them how to do it by shooting past Tim Howard.
The result means that Chelsea, which doesn't play until a visit to Newcastle today, remains second with United a point behind with just three games to play. Liverpool has a stronger chance to hold on to fourth place which means the chance to qualify for the Champions League.
Murphy proved a match-winner against United for the third time in four years.
"This is a good ground for Danny Murphy. He had a great game. He is tactically very astute. Not only did he do a good job in midfield but he took the penalty well to score a vital goal for us," said Houllier, who has come under fire from the fans for the team's inability to compete with Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea in the title race.
"It's always a great performance when you win at Old Trafford. The players worked hard for each other and we had the bit of luck you need when you come here.
"We felt a bit sad for our fans after dropping five points at home against Fulham and Charlton so we were pleased to make up a bit for that."
Ferguson's men had few shots on goal.
"Our finishing was disappointing and our general performance was not great," the United manager said.
The high profile game before 67,000 fans was surrounded by tighter security than normal after speculation that it might be the target for terrorist bombers. Six men and a woman were arrested in Manchester on Monday on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks.
Arsenal will win the title for the second time in three seasons if it wins at north London neighbor Tottenham on Sunday and Chelsea fails to win at Newcastle. The Gunners have a nine point lead over the Blues with a game in hand.
The Leicester-Man City game at the Walkers Stadium was marred by a mass brawl after referee Andy D'Urso had awarded the home team a late penalty.
Players from both teams also left the benches to swap blows and had to be separated by security staff and the incident likely will lead to a Football Association investigation.
England goalkeeper David James saved Paul Dickov's spot kick to stop next to last Leicester beating Kevin Keegan's Manchester City. That means Leicester, which remains six points off the safety zone, looks almost certain to go down.
City is still within reach at third from last, however, and will look anxiously at Sunday's game between second from last Leeds and fourth from last Portsmouth. Last place Wolves has a tough game at neighbor Birmingham and looks doomed having been promoted last season.
West Bromwich Albion celebrated promotion to the Premier League before its 2-0 victory over Bradford. Sunderland, the only team that could catch Gary Megson's men, had to beat Wigan but was held to a 0-0 tie.
Former Hibernian manager Bobby Williamson managed to clinch promotion to division one in his first match in charge of Plymouth. Argyle downed second place Queens Park Rangers 2-0 to capture the division two title.
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