West Brom 0 Fulham 0
West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster produced a fine second-half save to deny Fulham a first Premier League victory under Martin Jol.
Including the midweek Carling Cup match at Chelsea, which was settled on penalties, this was Fulham’s fifth consecutive draw.
Both managers were facing their former club, with Jol returning to The Hawthorns, where he had a spell as a player, and former Fulham boss Roy Hodgson looking for his team’s first home point of the season.
Albion certainly seemed like a team devoid of confidence in a first half in which Fulham were comfortable and looked the team most likely to score.
The Whites thought they had taken an early lead when Pajtim Kasami netted after Foster had failed to hold Clint Dempsey’s shot, but the midfielder was adjudged to have been offside.
Moussa Dembele fired well over as Fulham continued to threaten on the counter-attack without being tested at the other end.
It was a similar story after the interval and Fulham came close to breaking the deadlock when Dempsey’s hooked effort deflected off Jonas Olsson and bounced onto the woodwork.
When Albion finally created a clear-cut chance, Peter Odemwingie squandered it, shooting straight at Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer after being put through on goal by Graham Dorrans.
That finally brought the home side to life and they went close again when Chris Brunt’s shot struck the post and Odemwingie was unable to hit the target from the rebound.
A Baggies goal would have been tough on Fulham, who played well and might have claimed all three points had Foster not done brilliantly to keep out John Arne Riise’s free-kick and substitute Bryan Ruiz been able to force home the follow-up.
This post was last modified on 24/09/2011