Liverpool's poor start to 2017 has continued as they have suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to Premier League strugglers Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.
Goals in either half from debutant Alfred N'Diaye and Oumar Niasse sealed just a fifth league win of the season for the Tigers, while condemning the Reds to another costly setback.
Jurgen Klopp's men miss out on the chance to move second in the table, instead remaining fourth and now at risk of being overtaken by Manchester City over the remainder of the weekend after seeing their poor run stretch to one win in 10 games this calendar year.
Neither side could create any major chances in a tight first half on Humberside, with Hull's best moment prior to their breakthrough falling to the feet of N'Diaye nine minutes in.
The Villarreal loanee sent a shot down the middle for Simon Mignolet to easily keep out, moments after Abel Hernandez dragged an attempt of his own wide of the target.
Liverpool's best moment of a quiet first half arrived midway through when, from a left-sided Roberto Firmino cross, Eldin Jakupovic failed to handle and Philippe Coutinho dragged the loose ball wide of goal.
Joel Matip also nodded wide when picked out unmarked from a corner, but there was to be a bigger blow for Klopp on the brink of half time when N'Diaye found a way through for the hosts.
The Reds failed to clear their lines from a corner when given three chances to do so, with Harry Maguire getting his head to a corner first to send the ball into a dangerous area, where N'Diaye was waiting to pounce once Mignolet made a hash of his attempted clearance.
It was a goal that very much summed up the Merseyside outfit's recent struggles, particularly at the back, as they went into the break heading towards another shock defeat.
Liverpool failed to register a shot on target in the first half, but it took just four minutes of the second for that to change as Emre Can's angled header was kept out by a far-from-confident Jakupovic at the second attempt.
Sadio Mane, back in the starting lineup for the first time in a month, was able to outjump Andrew Robertson at the back post and send a header looping towards the far corner, only for Jakupovic to desperately slap the ball to safety.
Hull had a couple of openings to put the game out of reach, both of which Hernandez failed to take as he sent one shot into the side-netting and was thwarted by Mignolet from the other.
Just when the contest looked to be slipping away from the visitors they again stepped things up, with Adam Lallana heading Mane's cross into the path of James Milner, who was blocked on the line by Jakupovic.
Coutinho was perfectly positioned to latch on to the rebound, yet his close-range shot was - much like in the first half - scuffed wide of the target as City were again let off.
Liverpool were enjoying 80% of possession heading into the final quarter of the match and again tested Jakupovic through a Milner curler, forcing Marco Silva to revert to a five-at-the-back system for the remainder.
Despite being under the cosh throughout the second half, it was Hull who scored the second of the match thanks to a simple ball over the top from Andrea Ranocchia - a late inclusion in the side for injured defender Michael Dawson - which allowed Everton loanee Niasse to burst through and make it four home wins on the spin for City.
Daniel Lewis
