A rampant Liverpool team stunned Manchester United 1 -4 at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday to rekindle the English Premier League title race.

After their midweek thrashing of Real Madrid in the Champions League, Liverpool responded to falling behind to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty with another sensational display to seal a league double over the champions.

Fernando Torres and a Steven Gerrard spot kick edged Liverpool in front by halftime. Fabio Aurelio then curled in a 77th minute free kick to make it 3-1 after United defender Nemanja Vidic had been sent off.

Substitute Andrea Dossena lobbed a fourth in stoppage time to make it a humiliating afternoon for United who had been on an 11-match league winning streak and were unbeaten in 16.

United lead the table by four points from Liverpool with a game in hand but their poor performance will give renewed heart to Liverpool and Chelsea who face Manchester City on Sunday.

“It was a great team performance from back to front,” Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard told Sky Sports. “It was a magnificent win. It’s not very often you see Man United get beaten 4-1 at home.

“The important thing is the gap is smaller. We still need a bit of luck along the way but it may give the teams who still have to play United a bit of belief.”

Arsenal are out of contention for the title but edged back into the top four when record signing Andrei Arshavin grabbed his first two goals for the club in a 4-0 home thrashing of Blackburn Rovers to move above Aston Villa who play on Sunday.

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