Liverpool 0-1 Fulham: Kenny Dalglish's men crash again ahead of FA Cup final

It took the Cottagers 31 attempts to finally lay siege to Liverpool's famous fortress, which this season has started to crumble around the hosts.

West Brom and Wigan both too secured unique Premier League victories at Anfield this season, and Liverpool are in danger of equalling their worst ever home league record.

Is it important that Kenny Dalglish made nine changes to his Liverpool side that beat Norwich so convincingly at the weekend? Not to first team coach Billy Mckinlay or manager Martin Jol, who is still recovering from a chest infection, and certainly not to the hundreds of loyal fans that make this trip year after year for no reward. Until now.

A fifth-minute Martin Skrtel own goal was the only difference between the hosts and the Cottagers in a rather dour match which sees Fulham draw level on points with the Reds.

It was another typical home performance from Liverpool, who, FA Cup final aside, must beat Chelsea in the League, next week to avoid equalling their worst tally of home league victories, and must also score at least four against Roberto Di Matteo's side to level their worst number of league goals at Anfield in a season.

Dalglish was damning of his team's attitude, especially with an opportunity to claim a place in his Wembley squad, but he admitted to being partly responsible for yet another home defeat.

"The performance and attitude were very poor and that's not like us," said the Scot. "If you are going to going to go into games with a bad attitude you will get nothing from the game, and that's what we got.

"I have to take part of the blame because I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to get minutes on the pitch and a chance to push their case for Saturday."

However, he insisted that the result would have no impact on Saturday's final. "It'll not affect Saturday, but that's not to say it's right for tonight."

Fulham took one step further towards a consecutive top 10 finish, recovering from their 4-0 thrashing four days ago across Stanley Park.

McKinlay was much relieved to have some good news for the unwell Jol. "Hopefully this will cheer him up a bit. I'll enjoy our conversation more than I did on Saturday," said Fulham's No 2.