Liverpool boss Arne Slot will definitely be without four players against West Ham United with question marks over the fitness of two more(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Liverpool made the most of Chelsea's slip-up in drawing 1-1 at home to Burnley by turning up the heat in the race for Champions League qualification with a last-gasp 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest. But the Reds' Merseyside rivals were unable to do them a favour the following evening.

Manchester United's 1-0 win at Everton means they moved three points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea and sixth-placed Liverpool and intriguingly, within three points of third-placed Aston Villa, who could soon find themselves being dragged into the battle for a top-four finish.

For now all the defending champions can do is concentrate on themselves. And while the performance at the City Ground was not one to remember, the win, secured courtesy of a dramatic 97th-minute Alexis Mac Allister strike, made it nine points from the last available 12.