Liverpool increases their lead to an 11-point gap at the top of the Premier League on Saturday after Virgil Van Djik struck twice in the early minutes of the match against Brighton.
Moments later, however, Manchester City lost two critical points at Newcastle United in a 2-2 draw, further taking out Pep Guardiola's side from the competition as Liverpool fought out a 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion despite having goalkeeper Alisson red-carded.
All was calm at Anfield when Dutch central defender van Dijk scored two first-half headers against Brighton, but the second 45 minutes was nothing but comfortable.
Brighton tried to rebound with all they can when Alisson rushed out of his goal in the 76th minute and blatantly handled there was no option but to send him off.
The immediate problem for Liverpool was that Lewis Dunk's free-kick beat sub keeper Adrian, prompting panic in the home ranks that Brighton looked capable of exploiting.
Liverpool hung on trying desperately with all they can in order to snatch the win until the final whistle was issued as Klopp's side stretched the club's unbeaten league run to 31.
"We should have gone better than we did in the second half but you have to give them credit as well," Van Dijk said. "Unfortunately we got that red card with Alisson then we just had to defend."
Chelsea's hold on fourth place suddenly looks a little less tight as they suffered a surprising home defeat against West Ham United which was the first in seven years, Aaron Cresswell's goal sealing a 1-0 win for the Hammers who had lost five of their last six games.
Frank Lampard's side has 26 points, six ahead of Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur who claimed successive league wins for the first time since April as they beat Bournemouth 3-2 in an effort to rejuvenate their team who suffered from a very distasteful start of the season.
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