Leeds United 0-1 Liverpool
Liverpool recorded their fourth away win of the season to send them temporarily top of Premier League table.
There was a surprise in the Liverpool line up to start the game, as Michael Owen was left on the bench, following his part in England's two Euro 2004 qualifiers which included 90 minutes of action in Southampton on Wednesday. Smicer returned to the squad but only as a substitute, and Murphy was stright back in the starting XI after recovering from the injury which kept him out of the England squad.
It took just 7 minutes for Liverpool to get heir first chance, and it fell to Danny Murphy, but Murphy's controlled volley from 10 yards out was well blocked by Woodgate, and the resulting corner came to little, although John Arne Riise appeared to have a valid claim for a penalty after he was tugged back by his shirt, but Steve Dunn saw nothing wrong with the challenge.
Cheyrou was next to try his luck and his shot too was blocked by the Leeds defence, as was another effort by the Frenchman just minutes later, which he took on his right foot from the corner of the 18 yard box, following a quick break by Diouf.
Alan Smith had Leeds' best chance in the first half hour when, after a run at the Liverpool defence, he saw his shot deflected by Hyypia and it was no more than a couple of inches past he wrong side of the post, and with the ball bouncing off the post behind the goal and rolling along the back of the net, a section of the crowd thought that it was the opening goal.
Ten minutes later and Leeds were even closer to scoring, and a magnificent save by Jerzy Dudek was required to make sure that Liverpool remained of level terms. A cross fromt he right hand side was met with a looping header by Kewell, and with the ball dropping just under the bar, Dudek somehow managed to make a one handed save and tip the ball over the bar.
Dudek again saved Liverpool from going behind a couple of minutes later, when another cross from the right was sliced towards goal by Traore and Dudek got both hands to the ball to push it away for another corner.
Harry Kewell had the final chance of the half and Leeds were again extremely close to opening the scoring.
Ian Harte's free kick from around 10 yards inside the Liverpool half was met by the head of Kewell, who beat Hyypia to the ball, and Kewell's header came back off the cross bar although Dudek looked to have it covered.
The game started to really heat up early in the second half, with a few clashes between Bowyer and Cheyrou, which resulted in a big increase in volume from the fans inside the stadium, and the home fans almost had even more to chear about soon after when a careless backpass by Djimi Traore put Dudek in trouble, and Dudek had to settle for conceding a corner.
Ian Harte then tried his luck with a ferocious drive from 30 yards, but Dudek was right behind it and was relatively untroubled.
For all of Leeds dominance in the later stages of the first half and the the start of the second half, they were unable to find themselves a goal, and it was to prove costly on the 66th minute, when at the other end, Diao netted his first league goal for Liverpool.
Dietmar Hamann played a fantastic ball from midfield to pick out Diouf, and the Senegalese forward picked out his fellow countryman with a low cross, and Diao managed to get in front of Robinson to direct the ball into the net.
Milan Baros had an opportunity almost immediately to make it 2-0, but opted to go alone despite having Diouf in support, and eventually hit his shot across goal and a couple of yards wide of the far post.
It was Baros' last contribution, with Michael Owen coming on to replace him for the final 22 minutes.
Around a quarter of an hour went by without any chances until the game was in the last five minutes, when Kewell should have equalised for Leeds.
John Arne Riise, stood on the half way line, messed up a pass back to Hyypia and Viduka sprinted down the right hand side of the pitch before crossing the ball to Kewell, who was faced with only Dudek in front of him. Kewell stepped past a challenge from Carragher who did well to get back, but then put his shot a foot over the bar from only 12 yards out and with only Dudek to beat.
It proved to be the game's last chance, and Liverpool recorded a third successive win at Elland Road.
With Arsenal not in action until later today, Liverpool currently sit on top of the Premiership and have made it 10 league games unbeaten since the start of the season.
News of all of today's other Premier League results will be available fromt he news section this evening.
