Chelsea crushed Everton 4-1 at Stamford Bridge today to move up to third in the Premier League as the battle intensified for a Champions League qualifying place.
Goals from Icelandic-Dutch strike pair Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, plus Danish winger Jesper Gronkjaer and substitute Gianfranco Zola gave them a fully-deserved win.
With leaders Manchester United (74) and Arsenal (71) not playing, the focus switched to the third and fourth places which carry a coveted place in the Champions League qualifiers.
Just two points now separate the three teams involved in that battle. Newcastle United slipped to fourth on 62 points after they could only draw 1-1 at home to Aston Villa, while two goals in the last five minutes from skipper Sami Hyypia and Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool a vital 2-1 win over Charlton Athletic at Anfield and 61 points.
Everton stay sixth on 56 points and are now realistically out of the running, and must concentrate instead on defending their UEFA Cup place from a Blackburn Rovers side on 53 points after a 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers.
At the other end of the table, third-from-bottom West Ham United kept alive their faint hopes of avoiding relegation by beating Middlesbrough 1-0 to reach 32 points -- three behind Leeds United, who play Fulham on Tuesday.
But the battle for Europe soccer next season was the main focus of the day and few managers were as satisfied as Chelsea's Claudio Ranieri and Liverpool's Gerard Houllier.
Looking ahead to their last three games of the season, Ranieri told Sky Sports: "We have two big derbies against Fulham and West Ham and the last match is against Liverpool. We need our best performances of the season.
"Everybody is tired, but character and pride are what's important now."
Houllier, whose side were trailing to a Shaun Bartlett goal after a defensive error by French defender Djimi Traore, said: "This game sums up our season.
"A big blunder, but character to come back through a difficult period, in the second half, and then the energy to finish the game well.
"We've got three games to play and we know what we want. We'll go for it, we'll give everything we have for that," he added of the team's aims to gain a Champions League qualifying place.
Newcastle boss Bobby Robson, meanwhile, was demanding nine points from his side after their draw against Villa.
Newcastle skipper Alan Shearer was bleeding for much of the game after a clash of heads with Gareth Barry and his team drew after Villa substitute Dion Dublin cancelled out a free kick from Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano.
"We knew it wouldn't be easy, the Premiership never is," Robson said. "We've got a battle on our hands and we know that.
"I said a couple of matches ago we needed three victories and a draw from the remaining games. Well, the games are receding and we've got one draw. We now need three victories to ensure that we can get there."
Everton manager David Moyes was clearly disappointed with his team's poor display, which not was improved by a subdued performance from teenage England striker Wayne Rooney, who is being investigated by police after allegedly spitting at Liverpool fans during Saturday's derby.
"This was a game to give both teams a chance to get close to the Champions League and we didn't do well enough," Moyes said. "All round for us it was poor."
Ireland striker Robbie Keane scored twice to give Tottenham Hotspur a 3-2 win over relegated West Bromwich Albion, French forward Christophe Dugarry hit two to give Birmingham City a 3-2 win over Southampton and Marc-Vivien Foe also got a brace in Manchester City's 3-0 win over relegated Sunderland.