Liverpool narrowed the gap between themselves and fourth-place with a convincing 2-0 win over 10-man Newcastle United at Anfield on Monday night, leaving them just four points off of fourth with six games left.
Brendan Rodgers' side dominated the first-half, but only had a single Raheem Sterling goal to show for their efforts at the break as they struggled to take advantage of their ample opportunities.
They were fortunate not to see Lee Mason award the visitors a penalty in the first-half, when Dejan Lovren caught Ayoze Perez inside the Liverpool area - whilst they had Simon Mignolet to thank for a few fine saves either side of the interval.
Sterling wasted a great opportunity to seal the victory before the hour mark, slicing wide from five-yards out, but Joe Allen flashed in a close-range effort with 20 minutes to go to seal the win - whilst Moussa Sissoko received his marching orders in the 83rd minute to seal another disappointing night for the Toon.
The win meant the hosts dealt an out-of-form Newcastle side a fifth consecutive top-flight defeat, whilst also reigniting their faint top-four hopes ahead of their FA Cup semi-final on Sunday.
Despite the fact that Liverpool enjoyed more possession in the first-half, the opening few minutes were fairly even, with neither side managing to maintain a sustained spell of pressure as both the hosts and John Carver's side gave away the ball frequently.
Then, in the Reds' first real attack of the game - they found themselves ahead out of nothing, thanks to brilliant individual play from Raheem Sterling. The 20-year-old, who has been in the headlines for various issues throughout the week, brilliantly brought down a cross-field ball from Jordan Henderson inside the box, before cutting onto the inside of Ryan Taylor. Despite being crowded out by black and white shirts, the 20-year-old further ghosted past Gabriel Obertan's lazy trailing leg before superbly finding Tim Krul's far corner after shifting his weight onto his right foot.
From there on in, Brendan Rodgers' men had much of the better of the first-half. They came close to doubling their advantage in the 14th minute - when Krul stopped Alberto Moreno's powerful half-volley from an angle after the Spanish left-back had latched on to Dejan Lovren's long ball downfield.
But the Reds continued to create chances. They were lacklustre in their finishing with Philippe Coutinho the next to try his luck, though Krul comfortably kept out his effort.
Coutinho and Sterling were at the heart of everything Rodgers' side did well in the first-half, the former jinking past Jack Colback and Mike Williamson on the right-flank before sending a low cross across the face of goal, but no Liverpool players were there to convert as they struggled to kill the game off.
The Magpies slowly began to grow into the game as the minutes crept on, and had their first chance of the game just before the half-hour mark, when Mehdi Abeid met Gabriel Obertan's cross at the edge of the box on the back of a promising move, but his volley was central enough for Mignolet, who held the shot well.
But despite their growing momentum, they were allowing too much space defensively. After giving away a free-kick cheaply, Henderson sent a dangerous swinging ball into towards the six-yard box. Lucas Leiva was the unlikely man on the end of the cross, forcing a world-class save from Krul, who did well to stretch out his left arm and deny the Brazilian's header, but the midfielder was then flagged up as offside.
In the 37th minute, Newcastle boss John Carver was left seething on the sidelines, when his side were denied what looked to be a clear penalty. Dejan Lovren swung a foot towards Perez - who was making good progress inside the box, visibly catching his knee with his studs - but bizarrely, referee Lee Mason did not award a penalty despite seeing the incident clearly from 10-yards away.
They had good reason to feel hard done by, with Carver seen debating the decision with Rodgers on the touchline in the aftermath - but the Magpies almost drew level, rather undeservedly, in the final minutes before half-time.
Ayoze Perez flicked a header towards Simon Mignolet's top corner at the Kop end from Daryl Janmaat's clipped ball, but the Belgian did excellently to tip the effort around the post and out for a corner-kick, which came to nothing.
But the visitors, who had lost their last four Premier League games coming into the clash, were by far the better side in the minutes after the break - putting the Reds under the kind of pressure they had to deal with themselves in the opening 45 minutes.
Gabriel Obertan wasted a good opportunity in the early stages of the second-half, after Perez had fired a cross in the box following Lovren's poor clearance as they piled on the pressure.
Only a couple of minutes later, Liverpool fans were left drawing sighs of relief when Mignolet was forced to race off his line and punch clear after Cabella's inviting cross looked destined for the head of Perez.
Newcastle struggled to make the most of their spell on top, as Abeid saw his shot from the edge of the 18-yard box blocked as the Magpies forced a succession of corners. They were very nearly made to rue their missed opportunities before the 60th minute.
Sterling, who had already got himself on the scoresheet earlier on, spurned the perfect opportunity to kill Newcastle's fightback shortly before the hour. Henderson broke into space down the right-side and sent a probing cross into Krul's goalmouth. It looked like a routine clearance for Taylor, but the 30-year-old fluffed his lines and the ball fell perfectly for Sterling from five-yards out. On his left, the youngster somehow conceived to put his shot wide with the bottom corner at his mercy.
But as the hour mark struck, the Reds began to regain control. Fabio Borini's introduction saw Rodgers' side go to a 4-4-1-1 with Coutinho in behind Sterling - and the mercurial Brazilian almost crept a shot between Krul and the post after good footwork, but his shot was straight at the Dutch 'keeper.
The Reds capitalised upon their momentum as they finally doubled their lead in the 70th minute with Joe Allen scoring just his second ever Premier League goal in a red shirt following slow defending. Substitute Borini found himself in a promising area inside the box, but could only make his way to the byline - where he won a corner out of Krul. Henderson delivered the resulting cross, which ended up in Sterling's control. He flicked a header towards Emre Can and the German's ball back inside the box bounced fortunately off of Mike Williamson, and then came up for Allen, who was quick to fire an effort past a flat-footed Krul to make it 2-0.
With things slipping further and further away from Newcastle, young forward Adam Armstrong was introduced to try and trouble a makeshift Reds' defence - but he had little impact with the result all but sealed with Allen's effort.
To add further pain to Carver and co. Moussa Sissoko was given his second yellow-card with seven minutes to go. The French midfielder had already been booked for clashing with Glen Johnson after a throw-in five minutes earlier and he carelessly went well above the ball with his studs, catching Lucas' ankle and knew his fate before Mason even revealed the card, as he voluntarily made his way down the tunnel.
Straight from the free-kick, Sterling had a chance to round off the scoring - as Henderson's cross fell invitingly to his feet at the far post, but his first-time connection was some way off the target as they looked to reap more misery on the Toon. He was soon replaced by Rickie Lambert, receiving a good ovation from Anfield for his efforts despite indicating his future may be elsewhere than Merseyside, as the Reds saw out the win.
Ryan Taylor had a good opportunity to halve the deficit late on, after the away side won a free-kick from just outside the area - but he could only send his set-piece wide of the post as Newcastle failed to score for the third successive game - leaving them sat 13th on 35 points, whilst Liverpool are now back into fifth ahead of Southampton on 57 points, four away from reigning champions Manchester City.
| Liverpool (1) | Newcastle () | ||
 |  |  |  |
| Mignolet | 7 | Krul | 7 |
| Johnson | 6 | R. Taylor | 5 |
| Can | 7 | Williamson | 6 |
| Lovren | 6 | Janmaat | 6 |
| Moreno | 6 | Anita | 6 |
| Lucas | 6 | Abeid (74') | 6 |
| Henderson | 7 | Sissoko | 6 |
| Allen | 6 | Colback | 5 |
| Ibe (58') | 5 | Cabella | 5 |
| Coutinho | 8 | Perez (86') | 6 |
| Sterling (88') | 7 | Obertan (66') | 5 |
| Substitutes | |||
| Borini (58') | 5 | Gutierrez (66') | 5 |
| Lambert (88') | - | Armstrong (74') | 5 |
| - | - | Gouffran (86') | - |