Fulham's battle against relegation looks all but over after they lost out 2-0 to Liverpool in their Premiership encounter on Saturday.

Fulham failed to take advantage of a weakened Liverpool line up as the visitors took an early lead through Jermaine Pennant who scored only his second goal of the campaign in the 17th minute before turning provider to Peter Crouch 20 minutes before full time.

As expected Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez sent in his reserve side with one eye on Tuesday's Champions League match against Chelsea. However they proved to be more than enough for Fulham, who after showing some urgency in the opening ten minutes of the game, were second best to the visitors.

Liverpool slowly took control of the game and were in the lead by the 17th minute when Pennant latched on to a ball by Lucas to smash home from edge of the area with keeper Kasey Keller stranded. Brede Hangeland and Brian McBride had a couple of good chances to put Fulham level but were wasteful with their shots.

Liverpool continued to dominate in the second half with Pennant being at his dangerous best as Fulham struggled to deal with his pace. Voronin and Yossi Benayoun had good chances to double the lead but were unable to hit the back of the net.

The visitors put the result beyond doubt in the 70th minute when Crouch raced forward to meet Pennant's through ball before slotting it past Keller to score his first of the night. Though Fulham tried to go forward at every opportunity, the Liverpool defense held on to claim all three points from the match.