Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt (L) celebrates his third goal against Manchester United with Raul Meireles during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, northern England, March 6, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON- Premier League leader Manchester United stumbled to a second straight defeat by losing 3-1 at fierce rival Liverpool, and fifth-place Tottenham conceded a late goal to 3-3 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

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Dirk Kuyt scored twice in the first half and again in the 65th to complete his first hat trick for Liverpool, ensuring United wasn't able to capitalize on second-place Arsenal's draw against Sunderland on Saturday.

United, which grabbed a late consolation through Javier Hernandez, remained three points above Arsenal having played a game more. Manchester City, which downed Wigan 1-0 on Saturday, is four points further back in third.

Steven Fletcher's late header earned Wolves a deserved draw against Spurs, whose England striker Jermain Defoe scored twice for his first goals of the season. Tottenham drew level on points with fourth-place Chelsea, which visits Blackpool on Monday.

United, whose defense looked creaky at Anfield without center backs Nemanja Vidic (suspended) and Rio Ferdinand (injured), has now lost three of its last five matches to keep the title race wide open.

Manager Alex Ferguson, facing a charge of improper conduct after his criticism of a referee following the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday, refused to speak to the media after the game but Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was more than happy to.

"We know it's a good victory for us," said Dalglish, whose side moved above Bolton into sixth, six points behind Chelsea and Tottenham but having played more games.

"We know Manchester United are a great benchmark but our season is not finished. We want to keep going."

Luis Suarez wriggled past three defenders to set up Kuyt for his close-range opener in the 34th, and the Netherlands forward nodded in his second five minutes later after Nani had made a hash of his clearing header, instead diverting the ball back toward his own goal.

Kuyt completed the haul by tapping in the rebound after Edwin van der Sar failed to hold Suarez's free kick, giving the Reds enough breathing space to allow them to throw recent record signing Andy Carroll off the bench for his debut.

"To make a hat trick against United is the best feeling ever. I have to thank Luis Suarez because he played great today and created two of the three goals," Kuyt said.

"We showed that we can compete against the best but we need to compete against the other sides."