Fulham were lucky to avoid a fifth successive loss after they clung on to a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage against Sunderland last weekend.

Fulham went into this game after suffering four successive losses. The Cottagers have gone downhill ever since their shock 1-0 win over Arsenal. It looked like this would be their fifth loss after Sunderland mounted a string of attacks into their penalty area.

However Fulham managed to hold on. Zoltan Gera had the first chance of the game on 9 minutes when he beat goalkeeper Craig Gordon all ends up However a on the line save from Pascal Chimbonda kept the scores level.

Andrew Johnson's perfect low cross then found Gera on 17 minutes, but he failed to put any bite on the ball from a close range. Bullard then had a chance with his fierce drive in the 37th minute, but Chimbonda was once again on hand to head it over.

In the 41st minute Kieran Richardson won a free-kick and beat Mark Schwarzer, but his shot crashed into the woodwork. After the break, Richardson managed to score from a free-kick, only for referee Keith Stroud to disallow the goal as he felt Pascal Chimbonda was interfering in the Fulham wall.

Television replays showed Chimbonda was not guilty as he had only been tugging at fell Black Cat Dean Whitehead. Nevertheless the goal was disallowed. However Cisse came close in the last few minutes, but again his shot was saved by the woodwork.

Bobby Zamora and Johnson had late chances, but Gordon was alert enough to foil them.