Tottenham's dramatic decline continued as their hopes of reaching the Premier League's top four faded even further after they were well beaten 4-2 by Liverpool at Anfield.
Aston Villa's defeat at Brighton left the door open for Spurs to make a late push for next season's Champions League but even a late comeback could not prevent a fourth successive defeat as Liverpool found form once more after their own recent slump.
Mohamed Salah put his touchline bust-up with manager Jurgen Klopp at West Ham behind him to open the scoring with a far-post header from Cody Gakpo's cross after 16 minutes, Andy Robertson adding the second right on half-time when Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario could only push out the Egyptian's shot.
Spurs lost discipline and Vicario had to separate team-mates Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal as they went off at half-time, with matters not improving for Ange Postecoglou's side as they were over-run after the break by a rampant Liverpool.
Gakpo headed the third from Harvey Elliott's delivery five minutes after the interval, the latter getting on the scoresheet himself in the 59th minute with a glorious curling finish from 20 yards into the top corner.
Liverpool then inexplicably switched off to allow substitute Richarlison and Heung-Min Son to give Spurs unlikely hope but it was too late and they remain seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with a game in hand.
BBC