Newcastle earned their first Premier League win in six attempts, while Arsenal scraped passed a dogged West Ham. Full Premier League reports from every match.
Premier League results
- Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth - full report
- Arsenal 1-0 West Ham
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
- Sheffield United 1-0 Norwich
- Southampton 0-1 Newcastle
- Wolves 0-0 Brighton
- Burnley 1-1 Tottenham - full report
Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth
Liverpool moved to within three wins of claiming a first league title in 30 years after passing another test of character to beat struggling Bournemouth 2-1.
A huge favour from arch-rivals Manchester United in Sunday's derby could bring a long-awaited championship even closer as Jurgen Klopp's side extended their lead over City to 25 points.
Mohamed Salah's 80th goal on his 100th Premier League appearance made him the first Liverpool player since Michael Owen in 2002-03 to score 20-plus goals in three successive seasons while Sadio Mane's coolly-taken effort turned around Bournemouth's controversial early lead, given to them by Callum Wilson.
Salah's strike, his 16th in the league this season, also took him past Luis Suarez as the club's leading overseas scorer in the top flight.
The win ended a run of three defeats in four matches in all competitions and was the ideal morale-booster before Wednesday's pivotal Champions League last-16 tie at home to Atletico Madrid, in which they trail 1-0 after the first leg.
Arsenal 1-0 West Ham
Alexandre Lacazette came off the bench to earn Arsenal a win over a West Ham side who spurned several chances to leave the Emirates Stadium with three vital points.
The Hammers had won only one of the last eight Premier League meetings between the two sides and created the better opportunities of a game settled by Lacazette - who hit the only goal of the 1-0 win as VAR intervened after the effort had originally been ruled out for offside.
Michail Antonio fluffed his lines on a couple of occasions while Jarrod Bowen hit the frame of the goal as the side David Moyes retained following the win over Southampton looked to spring a surprise.
Ultimately it would be Arsenal, who took a while to warm up in north London, who would claim the win to move Mikel Arteta's side within three points of fifth-place.
Bernd Leno enjoyed another fine afternoon in the Arsenal goal and was forced into early action, turning Bowen's low shot onto the post after the West Ham forward was presented with possession by Granit Xhaka.
The away side should have been ahead soon after, Antonio beating Pablo Mari to the ball and bursting into the Arsenal box, only to play his pass behind the onrushing Sebastien Haller - who would have had a simple finish.
Antonio spurned the best chance of the first-half as he could only turn the ball wide from close-range after latching onto Angelo Ogbonna's header.
The hosts came out of the traps much quicker after the break, Lukaz Fabianski doing well to keep out Nketiah's effort - but Arteta's side were still loose at the back.
Antonio was again the culprit when West Ham passed up their next chance to take the lead as Leno was able to paw away a free header following Haller's flick on.
Arteta turned to Lacazette and Reiss Nelson from the bench in an attempt to find the goal and it was the former who provided the goods.
Aubameyang's shot was deflected over the West Ham defence and Ozil knocked down for Lacazette to sweep home, although his strike was initially ruled out by Sian Massey-Ellis' offside flag.
She appeared to flag against Nelson, who was not involved in the move, and after a lengthy VAR check it was deemed Ozil was played on by Ogbonna, with the goal standing.
The goal was enough to settle the game, with Arsenal keeping their hopes of European qualification alive and West Ham outside of the bottom three by virtue of goal difference alone.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
Crystal Palace brought Watford back down to earth with a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park a week after the Hornets had stunned Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Jordan Ayew's 28th-minute goal settled this fiery contest to move the Eagles onto 39 points - one off the magic total which usually guarantees top flight survival - and toast Roy Hodgson's new contract with a victory.
Despite enjoying plenty of possession, Nigel Pearson saw his side suffer a disappointing defeat which has them only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.
The Hornets, fresh from their stunning 3-0 triumph over champions-elect Liverpool, started strongest and went close on more than one occasion in the 13th minute.
First Abdoulaye Doucoure dribbled into the area and tested Vicente Guaita from a tight angle and then Ismaila Sarr's follow-up strike was deflected wide for a corner.
Watford were dictating, with the hosts uncharacteristically sloppy on the ball and Hodgson's frustration on the touchline was visible.
That all changed in the 28th minute when Palace produced their first meaningful attack and went ahead through Ayew's eighth goal of the term.
After netting the winner at rivals Brighton last weekend, the Ghanaian rifled home from 20-yards this time after Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke and James McArthur had combined impressively.
Cautions were being handed out regularly in the second, but the focus was back on football when Zaha was denied by Ben Foster's legs in the 56th minute.
Down the other end, Roberto Pereyra had a weak shot saved by Guaita after Scott Dann blocked Troy Deeney's goalbound effort.
The Hornets captain was denied an equaliser with 65 on the clock, when the Palace custodian produced a wonderful finger-tip save.
Guaita was at it again three minutes later to thwart Doucoure's header and although Pearson introduced Danny Welbeck and Ignacio Pussetto with 16 minutes left, the hosts held on for a third consecutive 1-0 victory.
Sheffield United 1-0 Norwich
Sheffield United maintained their push for European football with a 1-0 home win against bottom club Norwich.
Captain Billy Sharp headed the only goal of the game after 36 minutes as the Blades climbed to sixth in the Premier League table, for a few hours at least, and just two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
However, Chris Wilder's team needed a world class piece of goalkeeping from Dean Henderson to ensure victory, with the on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper underlining his England credentials with a triple save late in the game.
For Norwich, the defeat means they remain six points adrift of safety with nine matches remaining to save their top-flight status.
The hosts began brightly and in the fourth minute Sharp clipped a cross into the penalty area from the right and Oli McBurnie's header had to be helped over the crossbar by Tim Krul.
The Blades saw a few passes go amiss as they lost their rhythm. However, they rediscovered it again around the half-hour mark, putting the visitors under pressure with crosses into the box and a succession of corners.
The Canaries needed to weather the storm - but they were unable. John Lundstram whipped another delivery towards the six-yard box from the right and Sharp was on hand to power home the header.
Norwich were on the ropes and, following another corner, Jack O'Connell's goalbound shot was deflected wide from just in front of the goal-line by McLean. From the resulting corner, Lundstram saw a 20-yard effort whistle narrowly wide.
Henderson was called into action for the first time with 11 minutes remaining and the 22-year-old showed why he is being spoken about as a potential England number one for this summer's European Championships.
Emiliano Buendia's corner was met with a thumping header by Ben Godfrey but, under pressure from Mario Vrancic sliding in, Henderson got down by his post to make the save, before reacting to keep out Vrancic's effort on his goalline.
The rebound fell to Drmic and he looked certain to equalise, but Henderson was there again with lightening fast reactions, before a combination of David McGoldrick and the crossbar thwarted Drmic for a second time from a yard out.
It was Norwich's big chance and they failed to take it. The tension inside Bramall Lane was growing as Wilder's team, comfortable for much of the match, were hanging on. But the Blades saw it out for another precious three points.
Southampton 0-1 Newcastle
Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy pulled off a number of stunning saves but was not able to rescue a point for his side as they were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle.
McCarthy gave his hopes of an England recall a boost as Allan Saint-Maximin's second-half strike secured all three points for Steve Bruce's men over 10-man Southampton at St Mary's.
Newcastle had failed to score in their last four top-flight outings, but Saint-Maximin's 79th-minute goal ended the goal drought as Newcastle moved eight points clear of the drop zone.
The result has come at Southampton's expense however, as the Magpies climbed above their opponents to 13th in the table.
The hosts fought to keep the scores level after Moussa Djenpro's red card, with McCarthy making some crucial saves including one from a Matt Ritchie penalty.
Djenepo, returning to the side following a family bereavement, lasted just 28 minutes before being sent off for a challenge on Isaac Hayden.
The 21-year-old winger's tackle was reckless and he was deservedly shown a red card after referee Graham Scott consulted the pitch-side monitor before changing his initial decision from yellow to red.
Despite having a one-man advantage, Newcastle struggled to convert their chances, and missed a penalty just before the half-time whistle after VAR ruled Sofiane Boufal had handled in the box.
McCarthy guessed correctly and dived down to his left to keep the score level and deny former Portsmouth midfielder Matt Ritchie from giving Newastle the lead.
The intensity which encompassed Steve Bruce's side's first-half performance was somewhat lacking for much of the second half.
However, with just over 10 minutes remaining in the match, Saint-Maximin won the ball on the right side of the pitch before running towards goal and putting the ball past McCarthy as Newcastle found the benefit of the numerical advantage to return to the north east with all three points.
Wolves 0-0 Brighton
Wolves' top-four hopes suffered a damaging blow after they were held to a dull 0-0 draw by Brighton, in a contest that produced just two shots on target.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side would have moved fourth with a two-goal victory over the Seagulls but were left frustrated.
They still climbed to fifth, having played a game more than Manchester United, but trail Chelsea by two points with the Blues also having a game in hand.
In an afternoon of few chances Solly March wasted the best when he shot over and battling Brighton will be happier with the point.
They now sit two points above the relegation zone but are still winless since December and remain precariously placed above the bottom three.
The first half was a non-event, Wolves failing to find their usual home momentum which allowed Brighton to comfortably sit back.
The only scare for the Seagulls came just after the half hour when Jimenez hit the stanchion after Adam Webster's miscued header.
Adama Traore replaced Ruben Neves as Wolves desperately looked to add some energy into their performance.
But it was Brighton who carved out a rare chance when Leandro Trossard picked out March only for the midfielder to blaze over from 12 yards with 25 minutes left.
That it was the best opening of the game explained everything about the first 65 minutes.
Yves Bissouma drilled well wide before Traore finally injected some excitement with 15 minutes left. He skipped into the area to find Daniel Podence and when Lewis Dunk blocked his shot Jimenez's follow up was gathered by Mat Ryan.
Burnley 1-1 Tottenham
Dele Alli's second-half penalty helped Tottenham avoid a third successive Premier League defeat in a hard-fought 1-1 draw against a determined Burnley at Turf Moor.
In the absence of injured strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Alli took over spot-kick duties and registered his 50th Premier League goal five minutes after half-time with a cool finish from 12 yards.
At that point, it was a scarcely-deserved leveller for Spurs, who had been outplayed in the first half and had fallen behind in the 13th minute when Chris Wood marked his return from injury by prodding past Hugo Lloris.
The Tottenham goalkeeper was perhaps culpable for the opener but then produced a sensational point-blank save late on to deny Burnley substitute Matej Vydra, who had earlier been thwarted by Eric Dier's superb late tackle.
Dier, as anticipated, started despite the furore which saw him climb into the stands to confront a fan in the aftermath of Spurs going out of the FA Cup to Norwich on Wednesday night, and, as it proved, had a critical impact.
Manager Jose Mourinho shuffled his pack and made five changes from midweek as he looked to avoid another defeat that would have deepened the gloom around the north Londoners.
The half-time introduction of Giovani Lo Celso at half-time proved a turning point for Spurs after they had been second best in the first 45 minutes, but the failure to win in the north-west means they could fall seven points behind the top four if Chelsea beat Everton on Sunday.
