Arsenal look virtually certain to finish as Premier League runners-up after beating Liverpool 3-1 in a fluctuating match at Highbury yesterday.

Goals from Robert Pires, Jose Antonio Reyes and Francesc Fabregas put Arsenal six points ahead of Manchester United with two games to play and their superior goal difference means they look certain to qualify directly for next season's Champions League.

Defeat ended Liverpool's hopes of finishing fourth, a slot which goes to Merseyside rivals Everton, and although they can look forward to the Champions League final against Milan they will not be in next season's competition.

They will also need to perform much better against the Italian side than they did in the first half against Arsenal if they are to win a fifth European Cup.

Liverpool started brightly enough but as soon as Pires had curled in a delightful 20-metre free-kick, they started to look jaded after their dramatic victory over Chelsea on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek had already denied Arsenal by tipping Lauren's bouncing far-post header on to the crossbar but the Pole was powerless to stop Pires's perfectly struck shot from flying into the top corner of the net after 25 minutes.

Arsenal doubled the lead four minutes later through Spanish forward Reyes, who surged through a static defence and struck a firm left-foot shot into the far corner.

Liverpool improved after half-time with the introduction of striker Djibril Cisse and winger Harry Kewell as substitutes and their captain Steven Gerrard pulled a goal back with a deflected free-kick from just outside the penalty area after 51 minutes.

Gerrard then forced Jens Lehmann into a diving save with a fierce 25-metre drive and Arsenal, struggling to cope with the pace of Cisse and Kewell's trickery down the left, failed to reproduce their fluent passing of the first half.

Arsenal also missed injured Thierry Henry and endured anxious moments before Fabregas scored from close range in the dying seconds to confirm revenge for his team's 2-1 defeat at Anfield earlier in the season.

Premier League

Arsenal 3
Liverpool 1
HT: 2-0. Att:38,119

Next fixtures

Tomorrow: 9 p.m. Man. Utd-Chelsea.

Wednesday: 9 p.m. Arsenal-Everton.

Sunday: 4 p.m. Birmingham-Arsenal; Bolton-Everton; Charlton-C. Palace; Fulham-Norwich; Liverpool-A. Villa; Man. City-M'boro; Newcastle-Chelsea; South-ampton-Man. United; Tottenham-Blackburn; WBA-Portsmouth.