Crystal Palace dampened Steven Gerrard's final day as a Liverpool player at Anfield on another action-packed weekend in the Premier League.
The Reds captain was making his last home appearance for the Merseyside club on Saturday but was left disappointed as Palace recorded a 3-1 victory.
Despite Adam Lallana scoring the opening goal in the 26th minute, Brendan Rodgers' side came up short as Jason Puncheon, Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray piled on the goals much to the dismay of Gerrard.
Southampton turned on the style by hammering Aston Villa 6-1 at St Mary's courtesy of a quick-fire hat-trick from Sadio Mane and a brace from Shane Long.
Senegalese winger Mane struck in the 13th, 14th and 16th minutes to set up the emphatic triumph which kept the Saints seventh but with a chance to sneak into fifth if they can beat Manchester City next week and both Liverpool and Tottenham lose their respective fixtures.
Newcastle United's recent misery continued when they were beaten 2-1 by the already-relegated QPR at Loftus Road.
Emmanuel Riviere struck first for the Magpies but second-half goals from Matt Phillips and Leroy Fer condemned the north east club to their ninth defeat in their past 10 outings which could see them relegated next weekend if they fail to win at home against West Ham United and Hull City beat Manchester United.
Elsewhere, Spurs defeated the Tigers 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose, Everto overcame West Ham 2-1 at Upton Park courtesy of Romelu Lukaku's injury-time winner, Burnley and Stoke City drew 0-0 as did Sunderland and Leicester City which saw the Foxes stave off relegation.
On Sunday, Manchester City tightened their grip on second place with a 4-2 win over Swansea City in south Wales thanks to a Yaya Toure brace, while Arsenal drew 1-1 at Manchester United to fall five points behind City.
Monday night sees champions Chelsea take on 13th-placed West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
2014/15 Barclays Premier League - season scores
Southampton: 6 (Sadio Mane 13'/14'/16', Shane Long 26'/38', Graziano Pelle 81') Aston Villa: 1 (Christian Benteke 45+3') St Mary's Stadium, Southampton - 31,636
Burnley: 0 Stoke City: 0 Turf Moor, Burnley - 18,636
QPR: 2 (Matt Phillips 54', Leroy Fer 61') Newcastle United: 1 (Emmanuel Riviere 24') Loftus Road, London - 17,608
Sunderland: 0 Leicester City: 0 Stadium of Light, Sunderland - 46,705
Tottenham: 2 (Nacer Chadli 54', Danny Rose 61') Hull City: 0 White Hart Lane, London - 35,857
West Ham United: 1 (Stewart Downing 62') Everton: 2 (Leon Osman 68', Romelu Lukaku 90+3') Upton Park, London - 34,977
Liverpool: 1 (Adam Lallana 26') Crystal Palace: 3 (Jason Puncheon 43', Wilfried Zaha 63', Glenn Murray 90+1') Anfield, Liverpool - 44,673
Swansea City: 2 (Gylfi Sigurdsson 45', Bafetimbi Gomis 64') Manchester City: 4 (Yaya Toure 21'/74', James Milner 36', Wilfried Bon 90+2') Liberty Stadium, Swansea - 20,669
Manchester United: 1 (Ander Herrera 30') Arsenal: 1 (Tyler Blackett (og) 82') Old Trafford, Manchester - 75,323
