A thrilling 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday leaves Liverpool's Champions League hopes all but over.
Jurgen Klopp now finds his team 12 points behind Manchester United in fourth with just 27 left to play for between now and the end of the campaign. It leaves the Reds needing both a remarkably consistent run and a shocking collapse from either United or Newcastle in third.
It means Liverpool are likely facing up to the prospect of a season away from the lucrative top table of European football going forward. What that represents for the summer transfer plans, both from a financial and sporting perspective, remains to be seen but Klopp's players have little choice but to continue the battle for European qualification as they aim to at least end an ordinary campaign strongly. But you will have known all of that, of course. What you might have missed were some hidden subplots at Anfield on Easter Sunday.
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Furious Zinchenko
Having been nutmegged on Trent Alexander-Arnold's way to creating a sublime assist for Roberto Firmino, Oleksandr Zinchenko was beaten all ends up.
There was little the Ukraine international could do to stop Liverpool's No.66 as he capped off an excellent second half with a fantastic piece of play that allowed Firmino to make it 2-2 late on with his 11th goal against Arsenal.
And Zinchenko was clearly still annoyed at that passage of play as he walked through the post-match mixed zone. The former Manchester City man has rarely enjoyed his time on Merseyside and Alexander-Arnold's skinning was clearly still fresh in the versatile defender's mind after the game.
Zinchenko was a flurry of huffs and puffs, moans and groans and an assortment of other loud, frustrated noises as he came past the journalists after the game. He was no doubt furious at the piece of defending that allowed him to be so thoroughly unseated by Alexander-Arnold late in the game.
Zinchenko's annoyance was obvious as he shuffled past with his club tracksuit hood up and his head bowed, clearly desperate to avoid speaking about what had been a thoroughly entertaining advert for the Premier League.
Silence is golden
In a game that was jam-packed full of incidents, there was only winner for the post-match talking point between the assembled journalists who had gathered at Anfield's mixed zone.
As the reporters at the game convened to try and grab a word with some of the players, talk, inevitably, turned to the incident at half-time when fourth official Constantine Hatzidakis appeared to aim an elbow in the direction of Andy Robertson.
It was a moment that quickly led to a statement from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), who confirmed they would be reviewing events shortly after the half-time whistle had been blown.
It was a bizarre moment that left Robertson enraged at the time and after the game, it was one that was being widely discussed by a smattering of journalists, who had huddled around a smartphone to see the video in more detail.
Right on cue, Mr Hatzidakis walked through the mixed zone as the chatter fell silent. Referees, for obvious reasons, cannot speak to the media after games, meaning any requests for a quick word with the official would have been rejected anyway, but rarely can the linesman's actions outside of a dodgy offside decision have been the subject of such intense scrutiny.
For the official in question, however, the silence was golden. It remains to be seen what action is now taken.
Trent on the spot
It's a tactic perhaps as old as football itself but goalkeeper gamesmanship just before a penalty is taken has surely been magnified by the antics of Emi Martinez during Argentina's successful World Cup campaign.
So when Liverpool were awarded their first penalty at Anfield in the Premier League for over a year on Sunday, Trent Alexander-Arnold immediately sprung into action.
In an effort to thwart his off-field friend Aaron Ramsdale in any attempt to unsettle Mohamed Salah, Alexander-Arnold stood on the penalty spot with his back to him, denying the Gunners goalkeeper the chance to either scuff up the turf where Salah was going to strike the ball or to try and get in the head of the taker himself.
Alexander-Arnold did a fine job of blocking off Ramsdale's effort prior to Salah's kick but the No.11 did not hold up his end of the bargain. A second successive miss from 12 yards meant Ramsdale didn't need any mind games.
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