Cottagers suffer sinking feeling

Fulham's hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a severe blow as they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Craven Cottage.

Lacklustre Fulham left looking over their shoulders

Fulham's hopes of avoiding Premier League relegation suffered a severe blow as they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Craven Cottage on Saturday. The rotated Reds were without captain Steven Gerrard, while Fernando Torres and Jamie Carragher started on the bench as manager Rafa Benitez kept an eye on next week's UEFA Champions League semi-final against Chelsea. But it made little difference as on 17 minutes Jermaine Pennant showed too much pace for Fulham defender Brede Hangeland before firing past Kasey Keller, who will be keen to forget the strike as the American shot-stopper appeared to misjudge his angles to be tamely beaten at his near post. Fulham failed to truly threaten their visitors as the nerves of their relegation battle appeared to get the better of them as strike duo David Healy and Brian McBride both snatched at good chances. After the interval things continued in a similar style and on 70 minutes Peter Crouch put Fulham out of their misery as he finished through the legs of Keller, who should again have done better, to leave the Cottagers looking nervously over their shoulders with three games to play.

Testing

Skipper McBride recovered quickly from an early knock before Clint Dempsey's determined progress down the left was halted by a crude challenge by Javier Mascherano. Jimmy Bullard swung in a testing free kick that curled into the six-yard box but keeper Jose Reina collected impressively. Sami Hyypia and Martin Skrtel had their work cut out with timely interceptions as Fulham found width and movement for Simon Davies and Dempsey to provide a stream of crosses into the box but Fulham were almost caught out by their former right back Steve Finnan's run and cross in the 14th minute. Defender Paul Stalteri did just enough to put off the towering Crouch who put his header just wide of the mark. And three minutes later they paid the price for not picking up Leiva in midfield when he snapped on to Andriy Voronin's pass and provided the perfect lay-off for Pennant to drill a thundering right-foot shot high inside keeper Keller's left-hand post. As Fulham's early fire faded, Crouch was close to a second Liverpool goal when he just failed to convert a Pennant cross and the closest Fulham came to equalising before the break was the giant Brede Hangeland's off-target header from another Bullard free kick.

Comfortable

Liverpool looked composed and comfortable throughout the second half even though Reina was left grasping thin air by a Davies cross from the left and a Dempsey snap-shot which both finished wide of the mark. Russian striker Voronin lifted an overhead kick just too high from a Pennant corner as Liverpool looked for the killer second goal and Yossi Benayoun, enduring a patchy personal performance, twice finished off target from Pennant's assists. With 20 minutes to go Dempsey's header from a Healy cross finished just wide but seconds later Crouch sealed the points for Liverpool with a low finish from a Pennant pass which veteran keeper Keller will kick himself for not keeping out. The ball, well struck though it was, appeared to go clean through the goalkeeper's grasp. Danny Murphy bungled a chance to put Fulham back in for a late shout when he rammed his shot at Reina's legs when presented with a clear opening by the classy Bullard's pass.

Fulham	Team Statistics	Liverpool
0	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	1
5	Shots on Target	4
4	Shots off Target	8
3	Blocked Shots	2
3	Corners	3
9	Fouls	10
4	Offsides	1
1	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
75.9	Passing Success	77.3
20	Tackles	33
70	Tackles Success	87.9
48.3	Possession	51.7
49.8	Territorial Advantage	50.2