Liverpool 3-1 Leeds United
Three excellent goals scored by Owen, Murphy and Gerrard saw Liverpool record a 3-1 win over Leeds, in Peter Reid's first game in charge at the club following the departure of Terry Venables.
Following defeat in the week by Celtic which saw the Reds eliminated from Europe, the players were keen to bounce back with a win, which was essential in order to maintain their push for a place in next season's Champions League.
Liverpool were quick to attack from the kick off, and were almost ahead after just a minute of play, with Danny Murphy forcing a fine save from Paul Robinson with a vicious strike from the edge of the area.
The Reds looked threatening every time they went forward, with Diouf and Heskey linking up twice in the space of a minute to almost open the scoring.
A quick break by Diouf down the right wing took him to the corner of Leeds' 18 yard area, and after a delightful one-two with Heskey, who backheeled the ball right into the path of Diouf, the move finished with the Senegal striker firing straight at Robinson.
Diouf was closer a minute later when he turned a cross by Heskey towards the near post of the Leeds keeper, though the ball flew inches past the post.
At the other end, Mark Viduka was unlucky with a volley from a near impossible angle which looked to be dropping into the top corner of the goal in front of the Leeds supporters, but Viduka, who scored four in a game against the Reds 18 months earlier, put the ball just over the bar.
Michael Owen made no such mistake in front of the Kop though, as he put Liverpool 1-0 up with 12 minutes on the clock.
An accurate 60 yard ball forward by Gerrard was well controlled right on the goal line near to the right hand corner flag by Owen, who ran towards the Leeds penalty area before knocking the ball back out to Diouf, whose cross was met brilliantly by Owen with a shot which left Robinson with no chance as it flew low into the bottom corner of the goal.
Speculative long range efforts by Alan Smith and Didi Hamann caused no problems for the two keepers, but Danny Murphy's stunning strike after 20 minutes caused a huge problem for Robinson and Leeds as it hit the back of the net to put the Reds two goals up.
John Arne Riise went down close to the left hand corner flag at the Kop end after a challenge by Danny Mills, but Andy D'Urso failed to award a free kick to Liverpool, and with a number of Leeds players almost standing still, Liverpool kept the ball moving with Hamann playing a pass to Murphy and after taking a touch to get the ball under his control, Murphy unleashed a super shot from almost an identical position as that of his first minute strike, but this time Robinson stood no chance of making the save and could only watch as the ball dropped into the top corner of the goal.
Leeds gradually got more and more into the game as the half drew nearer to a close, and their reward was a goal on 42 minutes scored by Mark Viduka, who had looked Leeds' most dangerous player throughout the half.
A sliced clearance by Riise with his right foot failed to make it out of the 18 yard box and was picked up by Wilcox, whose cross found the head of Viduka, and the Austrailian forward forced a great save from Jerzy Dudek with a header fom point blank range, though Viduka reacted quickly to the rebound and side footed past Dudek to put Leeds back in the game.
Leeds put Liverpool under a bit of early pressure in the second half as they looked to level the scores, though Liverpool defended well and prevented Leeds from really getting any decent attempts at goal.
Liverpool were wasting chances to finish the game off though, with Emile Heskey missing a glorious chance to put the game beyond Leeds midway through the second half when he fired a shot high over the bar from only 10 yards out after a good one-two by Owen and Murphy.
Murphy then went close with a shot from the edge of the area which cliped the outside of the post, though Liverpool's pressure was to finally pay off as they went 3-1 up on 71 minutes, largely thanks to good work down the right by Owen.
The Reds' striker beat two Leeds defenders before sending a cross towards the centre of the Leeds penalty area, and Gerrard arrived in the box to send a precise side footed volley into the corner of Paul Robinson's goal from 15 yards out.
The result, and the margin of victory were the least Liverpool deserved after one of their very best home performances of the season, and with similar displays in the remaining seven games of the season, Liverpool can be confident of claiming fourth place and winning a place in next season's Champions League.
