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.
PHOTO: AP
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.
Spanish league
Midfielder Victor Sanchez scored as an understrength Deportivo de La Coruna drew 1-1 with Malaga and stayed in fourth place.
Striker Manolo Canabal equalized before halftime in the 34th-round game to deprive Deportivo of the chance to leapfrog FC Barcelona into third place for 24 hours at least.
Deportivo has 62 points, one less than the Catalan giant. Valencia leads the standings with 70 points from 33 games, level on points with Real Madrid but ahead of the defending champions on head-to-head results.
Valencia visits fifth-place Athletic de Bilbao on Sunday, while Madrid hosts Barcelona in the round's standout match.
Deportivo coach Javier Irureta made eight changes to the team which drew 0-0 Wednesday with FC Porto in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
Atletico's Spain striker Fernando Torres reduced the deficit with the final kick of the game to take his tally for the season to 16 goals.
Espanyol, which joins Albacete and Valladolid on 37 points, was last above the relegation zone in the fourth round of the season. Mallorca, which has 36, drops into the bottom three, joining No. 19 Celta de Vigo and already relegated Murcia.
Atletico's defeat was a blow to its hopes of a UEFA Cup place. Without a win in its last three matches, it stays in seventh place with 48 points.
PORTUGUES LEAGUE
FC Porto captured its seventh championship title in 10 years when second-place Sporting Lisbon lost at Leiria 1-0, leaving the defending champion beyond its reach with two rounds left to play.
Porto has 76 points, six more than Sporting, and is due to play its 32nd-round game today.
The Lisbon side could still catch Porto on points, but even if it ends the season level the title would be decided on the results of this season's head-to-head league games between the two teams in which Porto came out on top.
Sporting went down to a goal four minutes into the second half by Luis Alhandra for its second consecutive defeat.
Benfica won 3-1 against Amadora on Saturday and went level with Sporting. It could also equal Porto on points but it also has lost head-to-head matches against the northern club.
Porto is set to celebrate it's 20th title at its new 52,000-seat Stadium of the Dragon, one of the venues for the European Championship, in a game against lowly Alverca.
Second place in the Super Liga will be up for grabs next weekend when Sporting hosts Benfica in the Lisbon derby.
FRENCH LEAGUE
Lyon increased its lead over Monaco at the top of the French first division, defeating Rennes 3-0, while Monaco lost to Nantes 0-1, which appeared exhausted by its Champions League campaign.
Lyon kept its first division lead, increasing it by four points to 69 on 33 matches. Monaco ranked second with 65 points. Paris Saint Germain, 63 points on 32 matches, could unseat Monaco if it beats Marseille in Sunday's game.
Lyon thrashed a 10-man Rennes with goals from Brazilian midfielder Juninho in the 57th minute, from Mickael Essien in the 63rd, and France international Peguy Luyindula in the 71st.
Meanwhile, Nantes striker Marama Vahirua all but dashed Monaco's hopes of winning the French title by scoring the winner in the 78th.
The ejection of Rennes defender Gregory Bourillon for two yellow cards in the 44th eased Lyon's task. Juninho opened the scoring for the defending champion on a penalty kick after leftback Cyril Jeunechamp handed the ball in the Rennes area.
In Auxerre, Bonaventure Kalou in the 48th and Djibril Cisse in the 56th helped Auxerre beat Sochaux 2-1 -- and regain the fourth spot. Auxerre defender Philippe Mexes scored an own-goal in the 55th.
In Montpellier, Le Mans downed the host team 3-0 in a dramatic match as both fight to stay in the first division.
Elsewhere, Gregory Proment gave Metz a 1-0 victory over Nice on a penalty kick in the 62nd. In Guingamp, the hosts hung to an early goal from Jerome Leroy in the 6th to edge Lens 1-0. Strasbourg upset Lille 1-0 with an own-goal from Jean Makoun in the 30th on a corner kick.
In Bastia, Albert Celades in the 38th and Pascal Feindouno in the 48th handed Bordeaux a 2-0 victory.
In Toulouse, Achille Emana and Cedric Faure with two goals helped Toulouse to its 3-1 win over Ajaccio.
Dutch league
PSV Eindhoven efficiently outplayed a defensive RBC Roosendaal 3-0 to keep Ajax from clinching its 29th league title this weekend.
Ajax leads with 70 points and a game in hand, followed by PSV with 65. Ajax, which visits struggling NEC Nijmegen on Sunday, needs five points from its last four games to clinch the title. Next week, Ajax faces relegation-threatened FC Zwolle.
Co Adriaanse's AZ Alkmaar hammered RKC Waalwijk 7-0, including a Martijn Meerdink hat-trick, to rise to fourth on 56 points and clinch a UEFA Cup berth.
And SC Heerenveen's 0-0 draw with relegation struggler Vitesse Arnhem took it to 55 points in fifth, just one point short of European soccer next season. Willem II Tilburg dropped out of the race after a 2-0 defeat at FC Twente Enschede.
The main issue in serious doubt is whether PSV can hold off Feyenoord, which has 59 points and four games to play, for second place and Champions League qualifying. But the Eindhoven side's vastly superior goal difference means two wins from three would be enough.
Bundesliga
VfB Stuttgart claimed its fifth straight win, beating Hannover 96 1-0 to climb past Bayern Munich to second place in the league.
As usual, Stuttgart relied on the league's best defense in coasting past the relegation-threatened team. Stuttgart kept a clean sheet for the 18th time this season and is one match short of the Bundesliga record.
Midfielder Silvio Meissner scored the only goal of the match in the 10th minute, volleying in a cross by Cacau that struck the crossbar, then hit the ground behind the line before ricocheting forward out of the net.
The away match was a confident performance by Stuttgart's youngsters, who fired their team above Bayern in the league table, at least temporarily. The Bavarians could reclaim second place with a derby win today against 1860 Munich.
"We're playing great, we feel great," Stuttgart coach Felix Magath said. "The pressure is on Bayern, they have to match us. We've always said we want second."
Second place in the Bundesliga guarantees a berth in the lucrative Champions League.
Hannover's five-match unbeaten streak under new coach Ewald Lienen was ended by Stuttgart, which allowed its opponent only one chance, by Danish striker Thomas Christiansen in the second half.
"Stuttgart often plays this way," Lienen said. "At the start they take a lot of risks until they get their goal, then they pull back and its hard to beat that defense."
Fourth-placed Leverkusen and Dortmund, two slots below, clashed in a matchup of the German league's two hottest teams in a crucial battle for UEFA Cup berths.
Leverkusen now has collected a league high 28 goals since the winter break and has 19 points out of its last seven matches. Dortmund's six-match unbeaten streak was ended.
Berlin escaped the demotion zone for the first time in months, much to the relief of the German soccer establishment, which doesn't want to see the country's biggest city and market without a first division club.
Bottom Cologne fell 4-2 to Hamburg, but not before 18-year-old Lukas Podolski made his case for a callup to Euro 2004 with another classy goal.
The stocky forward leveled the match at 1-1 in the 44th minute, outracing his defender on the dribble and sending a powerful shot inside the opposite post.
That was his sixth goal in 15 Bundesliga matches.
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