Aston Villa put another dent in Liverpool's title dreams with a hard-fought 3-1 victory at Anfield.
Lucas Leiva suffered the indignity of putting through his own net to open the scoring, before Curtis Davies doubled Villa's lead moments before the break.
Fernando Torres did pull one back for the hosts, but Ashley Young rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot.
Liverpool dominated much of the opening exchanges, but fell behind after 34 minutes when an ambitious free-kick from Young cannoned off Lucas and past a stranded Pepe Reina.
The Reds were then the architects of their own downfall once again on the stroke of half-time as they failed to pick up Davies from a corner and he glanced a header in off the underside of the bar.
Torres then offered Rafa Benitez's side a lifeline on 72 minutes, as he coolly rounded of a well-worked move down the left.
However, Steven Gerrard felled Nigel Reo-Coker in the box three minutes later and Young sent Reina the wrong way from the spot.
The result ended Liverpool's 31-match unbeaten home league record stretching back to December 2007, when Manchester United were the last winners at Anfield.
But the spotlight will now be on Liverpool, who only lost twice in the league last season and still did not win the title.
The margin for error is now very fine. You rarely win the crown by losing more than five games in a season, and Liverpool's hopes could already have suffered a mortal blow.