Liverpool's top-four hopes were severely damaged as Jamie Vardy's brace left them 11 points away from the Champions League qualification places as they lost 2-0 away at Leicester City on Tuesday night.
The Reds were heavily reliant on Simon Mignolet to make a number of excellent saves in the first-half at the King Power Stadium, with the goalkeeper denying Shinji Okazaki's header and Riyad Mahrez's curling strike.
But despite notable improvement from the visitors in the first quarter-of-an-hour after the break, Jamie Vardy's first top-flight goal from the outside-of-the-box opened the scoring in stunning fashion.
Vardy scored his second of the night just 11 minutes later as more lacklustre defending and a deflection allowed him to fire past Mignolet and double his side's lead, which they saw out comfortably until full-time.
The defeat leaves them a massive 16 points away from top-of-the-table Leicester and 11 off of fourth-place with another 14 games of the season remaining.
Klopp makes wholesale changes
Jürgen Klopp made as many as eight changes to the young team that drew with West Ham United in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, as only Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren kept their places.
Lovren made his first league start since January 2 alongside Mamadou Sakho, whilst Jordan Henderson returned to the line-up to make his 200th appearance for the Reds, whilst alongside him in midfield Emre Can featured in his 50th game.
The visitors once again decided to go with Roberto Firmino as a false nine, supported by Adam Lallana and James Milner, as Christian Benteke watched from the bench.
They went head-to-head with a Leicester team unchanged from their 3-0 win at home to Stoke City over a week ago, having enjoyed a weekend off after being knocked out of the FA Cup.
Liverpool start slowly but kept in the game by Mignolet
The hosts' extra freshness seemed to fare them well early on as they looked keen to get at Liverpool and ask questions of their inconsistent defence. Riyad Mahrez tried his luck early on after being picked out by Okazaki, only to fire a yard or so wide of the far post.
After Emre Can fired a strike high and wide after cutting inside, Okazaki could, and should, have opened the scoring up the end on eight minutes.
Leicester stripped Liverpool captain Henderson of possession on the halfway line before Jamie Vardy found space down the left. He looked to pick out Okazaki with a cross towards the far post, but Mignolet produced a fine stop at point-blank range to direct his header over the crossbar.
Liverpool slowly started to grow into the game as they enjoyed a better period of possession, but they remained largely second-best despite looking to carve open a number of opportunities. The best of which saw Henderson pick out Can inside the six-yard box with a header, but after his close-range effort was kept out by Kasper Schmeichel, he was then flagged offside.
The Foxes continued to have the better chances on goal, Robert Huth heading over the crossbar from a corner kick after Christian Fuchs and Mahrez had wasted free-kicks in dangerous areas, as Liverpool's sloppiness in possession saw them cause their own problems.
Mignolet excellent to keep Reds in the game
Klopp was indebted to Mignolet again in the 35th minute, as Mahrez found space after cutting inside. The Algerian bent a wicked shot destined for the top corner - only for the Belgian shotstopper to palm over the bar with an acrobatic left-handed save.
But the 27-year-old, who recently put pen-to-paper on a five-year contract at Merseyside, showed the other side of his game minutes later as he dropped an incoming cross, only for Sakho to come to his 'keeper's rescue and clear.
The away side were largely restricted to chances on the break, as Firmino picked out Alberto Moreno in space down the left - but with four teammates inside the box, he fired wide from a tight angle as they struggled to create clear cut chances despite a fast-paced first 45 minutes.
The Reds, seemingly having had a stern half-time team talk from an irate Klopp, looked more purposeful after the break and Can came close to breaking the deadlock after a superb team move, his shot deflecting wide from Henderson's lay-off.
From the resulting corner, Leicester looked to be away with just Clyne up against Mahrez and Vardy in a two-on-one, but after the right-back blocked the winger's first attempt at a pass, Vardy was offside at the second attempt.
Okazaki came close again after twisting and turning into space in the box and getting his shot away, but he could only fire over, whilst Lucas Leiva's effort - running on to a loose ball on the edge of the box - was always rising over the bar.
Vardy opens the scoring with stunning strike from range
With Liverpool looking much better, although struggling to create anything of note, Jamie Vardy's 17th goal of the season dealt a hammer blow to the visitors' hopes of victory.
Mahrez's searching long ball caught out the back-four and with Lovren closing down Vardy, the in-form striker allowed the ball to bounce before striking a stunning half-volley which dipped fiercely over Mignolet and into the top corner.
In response to such a setback, Henderson was withdrawn - having only been passed fit earlier in the day given his long-term heel problem - in place of Christian Benteke as Klopp looked to go with a focal point up front.
Vardy scores his second as Foxes overawe Klopp and co.
But it didn't work and Leicester were screaming for a penalty just a few minutes later after a sensational one-touch team move led to Okazaki breaking into space in the box, but despite going down after Sakho's challenge, referee Andre Marriner gave nothing.
Before long, Vardy registered his brace after Sakho allowed a long ball to bounce. Leicester then gathered possession and found Okazaki, whose shot deflected fortuitously into the path of Vardy and he fired past Mignolet with a first-time finish to put the hosts well in control.
Klopp threw on midfielder Joe Allen to bring more composure and control to the Reds' play but they remained unable to create anything despite also bringing on Joao Carlos Teixeira late on, as they succumbed to yet another chastening loss on the road which leaves their chances of finishing inside the top-four looking incredibly slim.
