Xherdan Shaqiri came off the bench to fire Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League and ramp up the pressure on Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho with a 3-1 victory at Anfield.
Substitute midfielder Shaqiri scored twice late on with two deflected efforts to seal victory after Sadio Mane had opened the scoring for the hosts on Sunday (Monday, AEDT).
Decisive: Xherdan Shaqiri's (right) imapct from the bench was almost immediate in the crucial victory.Credit:AP
Jesse Lingard levelled for United before half-time but Shaqiri scored in the 73rd minute, just three minutes after coming off the bench, before adding a second 10 minutes from time.
United remain in sixth place, already a massive 19 points behind Liverpool, but asked if he could fix his side's current plight, Mourinho told Sky Sports: "What do you mean by fix? Win the title? Of course not.
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"We can still finish fourth. It's not easy. For sure we are going to finish in the top six. The best we can get is fourth. Now we look to the fifth and then later the fourth."
Champions Manchester City's 3-1 win over Everton on Saturday had briefly sent them top but beating United leaves Liverpool a point clear.
And Reds manager Jurgen Klopp revelled in his side's display.
"We all know about the quality United have, the plan was to take the risks, to be really brave. I loved it, a fantastic performance," he said.
Earlier, Chelsea consolidated fourth place with a 2-1 win at Brighton & Hove Albion with Arsenal slipping to a shock 3-2 loss at relegation-threatened Southampton.
Having won 4-0 at Amex Stadium last season, Chelsea were on course for a repeat after taking a 2-0 lead at the interval on Sunday.
Eden Hazard set up the first goal for Pedro after 17 minutes and scored the second himself before halftime following a defensive error.
Brighton came back into contention through Solly March's goal midway through the second half and Lewis Dunk went close to an equaliser.
Contrast: Beaming Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp (right) alongside his Manchester United counterpart.Credit:AP
The home side have not beaten Chelsea in any competition since 1933 but they stayed 13th in the table, nine points clear of the bottom three places.
Chelsea moved three points clear of London rivals Arsenal, who were beaten thanks to a late goal from substitute Charlie Austin at Southampton.
It was the Londoners' first defeat in 23 games and meant they lost ground on fourth-placed Chelsea, while Southampton moved out of the bottom three in new Austrian manager Ralph Hasenhuettl's first home game.
Danny Ings, back after injury, headed two fine goals in the first half from equally good crosses by Matt Targett and Nathan Redmond.
In between, Henrikh Mkhitaryan drew Arsenal level with a header of his own and early in the second half he scored via a big deflection.
Yet in the 85th minute Austin, who had come on for the tiring Ings, headed in a cross by Shane Long.
The win sent Southampton above Burnley into 17th place while Arsenal remained fifth in the table.
Reuters
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