Kevin Keegans's back problems had eased sufficiently for him to take charge for the first time in three weeks, but the pain that goes with being manager of Manchester City has not gone away. "For us to be five points behind Liverpool with four games to go just shows how well we have done," he said. The way Houllier's team have under-achieved this season, it was almost damning with faint praise.Liverpool 0 Fulham 0Attendance: 42,042. With a precision in keeping with much of the game beforehand, he blazed over.Nevertheless Coleman was delighted with the draw. After 29 minutes Moritz Volz's shot ricocheted off Stephane Henchoz's leg and looped against the bar and 11 minutes later Collins John shot tamely into Jerzy Dudek's body after Luis Boa Morte had given him the freedom of the area.

Tottenham - with only one point from their last six Premier League matches in their worst run for four years - managed only five goal attempts all game, none of which threatened to succeed.Their toothless showing served only to spark vocal opposition to Pleat, A growing number of Tottenham fans hold him responsible not only for the nosedive in results during his seven months in temporary charge, but also for the club's failure to find a replacement for Glenn Hoddle.Speaking afterwards, Pleat did not mention his own future but admitted the players are concerned over theirs "Morale is okay but there is a lack of confidence," he said. Steed Malbranque beat Henchoz on the left and pulled the ball back for Junichi Inamoto, eight yards out. Kewell probably realised it was not going to be his day when he hit the post with a fierce drive after 68 minutes and Owen, whose confidence seems to be draining away, was denied by Volz with a last-gasp lunge with 12 minutes left.All seemed to be building up to a Liverpool winner, but the best opportunity to clinch the win fell to Fulham. His shot was powerful, but so is the fate that is dogging Liverpool, and the ball was cut out in mid-flight by his team-mate Harry Kewell. But to be fair to the Liverpool captain, his shot was well taken and could have crept in by the post, but Edwin van der Sar dived down to his right to palm the ball away.Perhaps Owen felt the need to make amends because he suddenly burst into action, cutting in from the left and leaving two opponents in his wake. "It reminds us that he is just an 18-year-old," Chris Coleman, the Fulham manager, said.

"He's still learning."Gerrard probably feels he has learned not to take penalties again because he took the responsibility when Owen, who has missed three this season, declined. Nine players dug trenches as soon as they lost the ball and the home side were soon struggling in no-man's land. Vladimir Smicer shot weakly after 11 minutes, Owen was forced wide and had his cross cut out five minutes later and the England striker whistled a shot narrowly wide after 24, but as the first half wore on Liverpool looked more like a team in need of an idea.Indeed, it was Fulham who came closest to scoring before the interval. It worked only too easily and the home players left the pitch to what is becoming a regular conclusion: the sound of jeers."I know the headlines will not be nice for us," said Houllier, who attributed the players' trepidation to the reception after Monday's defeat by Charlton Athletic, "but we'll keep on battling." On the penalty, taken by Steven Gerrard in preference to the normal choice, Michael Owen, he added: "If Michael had felt he could take the penalty he would have done so It was down to the players to find a solution. The visitors, who dropped Sean Davis and Zat Knight for breaking a curfew last week, also hit the bar and worked prodigiously to their pre-match plan of containment.