Manchester, Liverpoopl battle for fourth place

Manchester City and Liverpool played out a miserable stalemate at Eastlands as they battled for fourth in the Premier League.



Emmanuel Adebayor had City’s best opportunities with a shot that was well saved by Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina and a header just off target.



Martin Skrtel headed wide from Liverpool’s clearest opening late in the first half, but both teams were so poor that it would have been a travesty had either claimed all three points.



The result helped make it a good day for Tottenham as a brace from substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko helped secure a 3-0 win at Wigan to move them up to fourth in the table.



In other games, Aston Villa beat Burnley 5-2 as they continued their push for a place in the Champions League, Bobby Zamora fired a dramatic late winner as Fulham came from behind to beat Birmingham 2-1 and Blackburn added to the woes of local rivals Bolton with a 3-0 win.



The victory eased Blackburn further clear of danger, but Bolton remain in the drop zone after a fifth league game in a row without scoring.



Chelsea lead the table with 61 points, four clear of defending champions Manchester United on 57.