Robin van Persie made Liverpool pay for missed chances as his clinical double earned Arsenal a 2-1 victory at Anfield.
Dirk Kuyt saw an 18th-minute penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny, who sprung to his feet to then keep out the rebound, but Liverpool were ahead five minutes later when Laurent Koscielny sliced Jordan Henderson's cross into his own net.
Despite the luck involved in that goal, Liverpool were good value for their lead. But it lasted just seven minutes before Bacary Sagna's pinpoint cross from the right was headed home from close range by van Persie.
Liverpool twice hit the woodwork in the first half and continued to create chances after the break, Martin Kelly missing the best of them when he turned Kuyt's cross wide of the target.
And Arsenal struck in injury time as Alex Song's ball over the top was met on the volley by van Persie to beat Pepe Reina at his near post.
Arsenal's win ends Liverpool's unbeaten home record in the league this season and moves them within four points of third-placed Tottenham, who play Manchester United on Sunday, but leaves the Reds 10 points adrift of the top four.
And Arsenal's day got even better a few hours later as Chelsea slumped to a 1-0 defeat at West Brom to crank up the pressure on Andre Villas-Boas.
Daniel Sturridge, so lively for England in midweek, wasted two golden chances to ease the pressure on his under-fire manager and he was made to pay for his profligacy as Gareth McAuley turned home Liam Ridgewell's off-target shot eight minutes from time to give the Baggies the win.
Manchester City stretched their lead at the top to five points after beating Bolton 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
The hosts bombarded struggling Bolton's goal and they eventually got their reward after 23 minutes when Gael Clichy's strike flew past Adam Bogdan off Gretar Steinsson to give Roberto Mancini's side the lead.
Mario Balotelli turned home Adam Johnson's cross in the second half to seal a sixth straight win for the leaders.
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez endured a day to forget against his former team Swansea as the league's bottom side suffered yet another defeat, going down 2-0 thanks to two superb strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Sigurdsson put the Swans ahead with a superb curling effort in first-half injury time before the former Reading man sealed the win with a 30-yard piledriver.
Highly-rated to Swansea midfielder Nathan Dyer, watched by England interim head coach Stuart Pearce, was sent off for a late tackle on Jordi Gomez.
David Dunn stepped off the bench to snatch a point for Blackburn against Aston Villa at Ewood Park.
Villa looked set for a morale-boosting win when Charles N'Zogbia fired them ahead but Dunn denied Alex McLeish's men all three points after heading home Bradley Orr's cross with five minutes left to make the final score 1-1.
Bobby Zamora scored a crucial equaliser to earn QPR a 1-1 draw against Everton to prevent Mark Hughes' side from slipping to yet another defeat at Loftus Road.
Royston Drenthe slammed home a brilliant 25-yard strike to put the Toffees ahead and put Rangers on course for yet another defeat before Zamora came to the rescue just before the break.
Paul Lambert's Norwich suffered their sixth away defeat of the season after going down 1-0 to a second-half strike from Matthew Etherington at Stoke.
Etherington latched on to Cameron Jerome's flick-on and smashed a shot past John Ruddy to give the Potters the win.
Source: FOOTYMAD
