Dirk Kuyt’s hat-trick denied Manchester United the opportunity to go six points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Kuyt’s goals all came from close range in a 3-1 Liverpool win at Anfield a day after second-placed Arsenal, who still have a game in hand over United, were held to a goaless draw by Sunderland at the Emirates.
Manchester City kept up the pressure on the top two thanks to a 1-0 win over bottom side Wigan at the City of Manchester Stadium and Tottenham saw their Champions League qualification prospects suffer as they were held to a 3-3 draw at Wolves.
Birmingham, who won the Carling Cup last weekend, slipped into the bottom three with a 3-1 defeat at home to West Brom, combined with West Ham’s 3-0 demolition of Stoke.
Elsewhere Bolton and Fulham enjoyed 3-2 home victories against Aston Villa and Blackburn respectively and Everton won 2-1 at Newcastle.
England got their Cricket World Cup campaign back on track with a thrilling six-run win over South Africa in low-scoring contest Chennai.
Andrew Strauss’ side could only muster 171 all out but chipped away at the Proteas and Stuart Broad’s four wickets proved decisive.
England had surprisingly lost their previous Group B match to Ireland, who suffered a five-wicket defeat to co-hosts India in Bangalore on Sunday.
Saturday’s Group A encounter between Sri Lanka and Australia in Colombo – a repeat of the 2007 final – was washed out.
Castleford went top of Super League on points difference with a 27-14 win at home to Hull KR. Huddersfield, who won at Harlequins, and Warrington, who beat Leeds, also have six points – as do Quins.
Elsewhere, defending champions Wigan won at Salford, Bradford beat Wakefield, St Helens defeated Catalan Dragons and Hull FC saw off Crusaders.
Saracens moved two points behind Premiership leaders Leicester with a 15-14 win over the Tigers at Welford Road and Gloucester consolidated third by seeing off fourth-placed Bath 34-22 at Kingsholm.
Elsewhere Northampton lost to Exeter, Wasps beat Sale, Newcastle saw off Harlequins and Leeds won only their second game of the season – versus London Irish.
This weekend sees the penultimate round of Six Nations games with Italy facing France in Rome and Ireland meeting Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. England will seek to take another step towards the Grand Slam when they host Scotland on Sunday.
