LIVERPOOL displaced Arsenal at the top of the League on a day when the natives became more restless than ever at Elland Road. A year, almost to the day, since undergoing life-saving heart surgery, Gerard Houllier has every reason to celebrate the anniversary, with his team continuing to look the part as title contenders. In contrast, Terry Venables will not have enjoyed hearing a disgruntled section of the home crowd chanting the name of his predecessor, David O’Leary.

Liverpool are on the up and up after losing just one of their previous 27 Premiership matches, rapidly gaining converts to their burgeoning belief that they are capable of winning the championship for the first time since 1990.

Leeds, unbeaten and top of the table at this stage last season, have now lost five of their first 10 Premiership games and are without a win in their last five in all competitions. When Rio Ferdinand went, they sold their confidence and conviction, as well as the best defender in the country.

Liverpool worked exceptionally hard all over the pitch, and deserved reward for their diligence, but for Venables it was another 90-minute reminder than when you are down, stuff happens, as the Americans say. Leeds fashioned the lion’s share of the chances and, the goal apart, Paul Robinson did not have a save to make. A draw would have been a more equitable result, but the fans, as is their wont everywhere, paid more attention to the result than the performance behind it.

Not long after the goal, scored by Senegal’s Salif Diao midway through the second half, they started chanting “There’s only one David Batty”, in a provocative call for the old battler Venables has consigned to the reserves. And after 70 minutes O’Leary’s name rang out. “These things happen,” Venables said afterwards. “I wasn’t particularly happy with it, but there you go. Supporters will do what they have to do.”

Houllier, naturally, was much more upbeat, praising his players for their “desire and tactical awareness”. He pointed out that of their previous 13 away games in the league, Liverpool had won nine, and said: “That’s championship stuff.” Without Stephane Henchoz, Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard, all injured, and with Michael Owen on the bench, they still opened up in assertive fashion. Forced on to the back foot, Leeds took 20 minutes to come to terms with a gameplan designed to test their vulnerable left flank. Gradually, however, they got it together sufficiently to threaten four times in the first half, Harry Kewell testing Jerzy Dudek’s elasticity with one header and rapping the crossbar with another from Ian Harte’s free-kick. When Liverpool pressed, Leeds were well served by England’s Jonathan Woodgate and Teddy Lucic, the loan signing from Sweden’s AIK Solna, whose impressive debut will finally have persuaded Michael Duberry that it is time to move on.

In the second half, Sami Hyypia might have opened the scoring with a stretching volley close in and Djimi Traore was horribly close to beating Dudek with a long-range backpass before the goal finally arrived, after 66 minutes.

El Hadji Diouf, on the left, put in a centre which deflected off Lucic, allowing Diao to get in front of Harte and touch the ball past Robinson, who was left with no chance. Houllier said: “The best thing for today’s anti-racism campaign was to have the goal scored by one black player and made by another.” Others may take a slightly different view of what happened, for in a celebration which was unwise, at best, Diouf ran to the corner flag in what looked very much like a deliberate “wind-up” of the Leeds fans.

Given a lead to protect, Liverpool do it better than anybody,but their control slipped after 87 minutes when Kewell should have earned Leeds a point after good approach work by Lee Bowyer and Mark Viduka. Kewell did the hard part in dummying Dudek, only to shoot over the unprotected net.

Much relieved, Houllier said of that last chance: “John Arne Riise gave my heart the biggest test it has had since the operation.” On a more serious note, he added: “What I like about the team, tactically, is that once we were ahead we showed a lot of composure and maturity, which is important.” He felt his players were stronger, mentally, this season. “We are not perfect, but we know we’ve a good chance in every game because we score goals and because of the quality of our players.”

Liverpool leave today to prepare for the Champions League tie against Spartak Moscow on Tuesday, when they hope to have Gerrard and Heskey fit to return.

Where do the club’s priorities lie? “My players want to win the league and I want to win the Champions League, so we’ll have a go at both. We have a dream, and we can make it happen.”

Venables had one small crumb of comfort. Robbie Fowler starts his comeback in the reserves on Tuesday. They are going to need him.

Leeds: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Lucic, Harte, Bowyer, Barmby, McPhail (Dacourt 75), Bakke, Smith (Viduka 56), Kewell.

Subs Not Used: Martyn, Kelly, Duberry.

Booked: Harte.

Liverpool: Dudek, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore, Riise, Murphy, Hamann, Diao, Cheyrou, Baros (Owen 69), Diouf.

Subs Not Used: Babbel, Smicer, Arphexad, Biscan.

Booked: Carragher, Diouf.

Goals: Diao 66.

Att: 40,187

Ref: S Dunn (Avon).

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