Fernando Torres kept Liverpool's dream of a first English title in 19 years alive with a stoppage-time winner at Portsmouth on a day that saw Chelsea's title hopes suffer a potentially fatal blow.
Rafael Benitez's side twice came from a goal down at Fratton Park before Torres, left on the bench until 15 minutes from time, met Yossi Benayoun's cutback with a bullet header to seal a 3-2 win that lifted the Reds a point clear of Manchester United at the top of the table.
The champions have played two games less but the resilience displayed by Liverpool on Saturday suggests the title battle is far from over.
Liverpool looked destined to drop points for the entire 90 minutes at Fratton Park. Fabio Aurelio's strike cancelled out David Nugent's 62nd-minute goal but Pompey restored their advantage with only 12 minutes left thanks to a Hermann Hreidarsson header.
But Dirk Kuyt took advantage of some shoddy defending to lash in an 85th-minute equaliser, setting the scene for Torres to floor Tony Adams's side with virtually the last touch of the match.
Chelsea, though, appear to be out of the reckoning after a goalless draw at home to Hull left Luiz Felipe Scolari's side languishing in fourth place.
The Stamford Bridge stalemate meant the Blues have won just two of their last six matches in the league and enabled Aston Villa, 2-0 winners at Blackburn, to leapfrog them into third place.
If United win at West Ham on Sunday, Chelea will find themselves eight points adrift of the leaders having played a game more and the jeers of their own fans told their own story.
Chelsea have now dropped 16 points at home this season and Scolari was conspicuous by his absence from the post-match inquest in the press room, leaving assistant Ray Wilkins to defend the man who guided Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002.
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